I realized the other day that somehow, I've never really made any Valentine's Day crafts, so I decided to whip up a few little hearts out of scrap toile and burlap.
I'm not the best sewer, but these were super easy to pull together and gave me a great excuse to use up some fabric scraps.
Next year I might make some more and decorate the hearts with buttons and some blingy bits. Or maybe use some plain muslin and stamp some designs.
I'm trying to keep my little crafty momentum going, at least for the next few days. I realized I hadn't made a rubber stamp in a long time, so I made a little ghostie stamp today.
It's a little bit bigger than I originally intended, so I had a bit of a hard time inking it, but I still think it's cute!
This one is inked better, but a bit messier! I thinked I inked it a bit too well....
Well it looks like I took another blog break, this time due to my new job. It's great, but it has me exhausted at the end of the day. I'm not sure if it's because I was just out of work for awhile or if it's the job or if it is because I have been dealing all year with the unfortunate growing apart with some long time friends and it's taking its toll on me.
Anyway, I managed to pull it together just in time for Halloween! I whipped up a simple banner with some bits of Halloween materials that I had.
I wasn't sure if I would make anything anytime soon, so I haven't been craft shopping for a long time, but luckily I have a huge stash of craft goodies so I pulled a few things together.
It felt good to be making something again. I need to keep reminding myself that even if I am exhausted, I need to try to make a little something more often!
I do miss making things and I really do have a ridiculous amount of craft supplies so I need to get my focus back!
I love peaches and since it's so hard to find good organic peaches year round, I wanted to can some this weekend. I went over to the local farmer's market and found some great peaches and also decided to do some nectarines and blackberries as well. Last year I attempted to can nectarines and it turned into a slippery, mushy mess so I wanted to give it another try. But, it was another slippery, mushy mess, so I think that ends the experiement with canning nectarines. I managed to can them, but they were just a lot messier than the peaches.
Luckily, everything else came out great.
I'm so excited about the peaches!
I went with a blackberries in framboise recipe for the blackberries.
Cooking away...
I either miscalculated how much I needed, or the recipe was off, because it was supposed to yield 6 cup jars and I only came out with two and a jar of the extra syrup.
The syrup tastes great in tea as a sweetener instead of honey. I bet it would also be good on ice cream even though it's not as thick as a traditional sauce.
Canning is fun and for just plain fruits, it's a pretty easy process. I'd like to try to branch out with some fancier recipes like butters and conserves and sauces, but I think I'll have to give out a bunch of the jars as gifts because I don't know how much conserves I can reasonably eat on my own! Making pickles and things would be fun too, but I'm still a bit scared of the low-acid canning at the moment.
After looking at all those pretty bunting photos the other day and all my fabric pieces, I actually decided to go with making a fabric wreath. I am a horrible cutter, so projects where the pieces don't have to be exact are perfect for me right now!
I gathered up a lot of fabrics that I had remnants of.
And then I made about 80 pieces about 8x2".
In the end, I didn't use any of the green fabric I had originally pulled out because it looked a bit too Christmasy.
And then I just tied them around some wire with a little bow on top!
I love it! I have it hanging next to my computer now.
This was a fun project to make and it went way fast than I thought it would. I think I might make another fabric garland next. I'm supposed to be meeting with my friend soon to finally go over some packaging for some new bath and body things I want to make. It's taking forever, so hopefully I can get that done soon and start making more things than soap! I've been super exhausted lately and I think my body is still fighting off the viral bronchitis I got a few weeks ago. Hopefully soon I'll feel better and can get cracking on some more things.
I've had a chair leftover from my college days that I've been wanting to redo for some time now. It's been in the basement of my parents' house for years and I decided it was finally time to do something with it. It was supposed to be an easy weekend project, but I got taken down by bronchitis for the past couple of weeks, so it turned out to be more like a week project.
The chair:
Yeah, I know. It's a long story how it got this way, but let's just say it was college.
The seat has a very hard to see quote from Harold and Maude- "I think that most of the world's sorrow comes from people who are 'this', yet allow themselves to be treated as 'that'."
A little semi-gloss white paint and some pretty new fabric later....
And it's a whole new chair. Still not so great at tucking the corners, but I still really like how this came out. Love this fabric!
It's a bit hard to tell in the pic, but it's a chocolate brown with an ivoryish pattern. I have some fabric left over, so I may make a small throw pillow to match for the couch.
The pouring rain has finally stopped here and I've been enjoying the sunshiney, though chilly, weather and getting inspired by spring and Easter. So, I thought I would decorate some eggs.
I wanted to try something a little different than dyeing them, so I just dressed them up a bit with ribbons and feathers and such.
I was inspired by an old Marie Claire Idees Easter article. I adore that magazine!
I think they look pretty dressed up simply in ribbons and buttons. And as a bonus, it was less messy than dye!
It's been a long time since I did any decoupage, so I wanted to give it another try while I am waiting for my friend to help design some packaging for new bath and body products. I somehow ended up with tons of UK postage stamps, so I decided to use those to make a frame as a quick gift for a friend that I was having dinner with and who is a huge Anglophile.
The stamps, all organized by color, because I am totally Type A like that. I chose green because it's her favorite color.
An unfinished wooden frame. Yes, it's from the dollar bin, but I'm unemployed so I am trying to spend wisely!
And a little bit of paint and mod podge
And voila! A fun and fast gift. I was torn between really liking it and thinking it looked too much like a kid's craft project, but my friend really liked it when I gave it to her, so I'm happy.
I've got soooo many more stamps in all different colors, so I think I'll give it another try soon and make it more like a collage.
The other day, I was approached by Lorraine of SF Indie Fashion about featuring my soaps and of course I jumped at the chance! I just found out that today was the big day. Please check out the feature "Just Desserts" on SF Indie Fashion here. A big thank you to SF Indie Fashion for the mention!!
In other news, I am working on some Valentine's Day soaps today that I should have finished soon!
I have just added my first scrub to my shop! A luscious coconut oil, vanilla essential oil and brown sugar scrub. Vanilla essential oil is a great stress reliever and mood enhancer and coconut oil is highly moisturizing and a wonderful skin softener.
I also added my candied rose petal madeleine soaps. They have a very floral and sweet scent, in a cute little madeleine shape!
Please check everything out here!
