We Now Offer Garment Printing!

We are now excited to be offering custom garment printing! From promotional items to gifts, we'll have you covered. Shirts, jackets, bags, and many other fabric items. You name it we'll print it. Some original designs have also been added to the website for purchase on t-shirts. So what are you waiting for check out our website for details and contact us for a free price quote.

DIY Budget Craft Room

Ok, I'm so excited about this I just had to share. Last weekend my husband and I decided that I should reorganize my office. It was a bit of a mismash of old armoirs and dressers packed with all my craft tools a lone tiny table that my embroidery machine sat on and a small drawing table. Let me tell you, it was definately not functional and there was not enough space. I had things stashed throughout the house and with the addition of some new equiptment I had officially outgrown my 12'x17' office :( So, originally we planned to just move some things around, but finally decided I just didn't have a big enough work surface so we began brainstorming. My husband mentioned that he found a table online that he thought would fit my needs and add more storage at the same time, problem was it was almost $1000.00 and with our budget of, well, almost nothing, that was not feesible and I would have still had to shell out more for additional storage. Well, as soon as I saw the table that he had in mind I immediately mentioned the bookshelves at Walmart that were selling for $15 and we had just run across a 4'x8' melamine sheet in the Home Depot just a few days prior.........INSERT LIGHTBULB HERE, LOL. We thought of several different configurations, but for our room I wanted the most worksurface I could fit in the room. I also needed space for fabrics, threads, tools, and so on. Well, after furthur evaluation we found out that Walmart had the tall bookshelves for $25 and we had some old custom cabinets in our basement, ahhhhh the idea was now feesable.



I decided to spray paint the old upper cabinets and use them as fabric storage and the top for thread. They work perfect. Note- if you decide to spray paint cabinets to use as fabric storage, be sure and get some contact paper for the insides so that the spray paint doesn't rub off on your fabric ;) Not an issue if you are brush painting.


We designed the table to have 360 degrees of storage. There is even hidden storage in the center!

I love this table so much I decided to share the plans with everyone, scroll down for the plans :)

We created this entire table for under $150!

Materials needed:

6 -3 shelf bookshelves from Walmart current price $90 plus tax

1 -4'x8' melamine sheet from your local hardware store current price approx $40

1- roll melamine iron on edge finish approx price $6

1- package screws

clamps

drill

Ok, so here's how I did it.

Step one- assemble bookshelves per directions

Step two- place bookshelves where they will be staying (important step table is extremely heavy when finished you won't be able to move it without unassembling it)

Step three- clamp bookshelves together one by one and predrill and screw them together

Step four- place top where you would like it. We left more overhang on two sides so that I could move my chair around and not bang my knees but you could center it if you prefer

Step five- predrill and screw top to bookshelves (go in from bottom of top shelf)

YOUR DONE ENJOY!

Gdiapers Tiny G's

Ok, now how stinking cute are these!!!! They are seriously making me want another baby! Gdiapers just came out w/ these. They are calling them tiny gPants and they fit newborns from 6-10 lbs and have a snap down front so that the umbillical cord isn't irritated. Right now they only come in the starter pack, which is actually an awesome deal, you get everything listed above for $149.99. From what I've read it's best to use the gRefills in the tiny g's to start then once you move into the small gPants you can use the gcloth, unless you don't mind major staining on your gCloth from newborn poo, if you know what I mean. On a different note we just ordered some gCloths and are eagerly awaiting their arrival :). I'll post a review once we've given them a test run. In the mean time I do have a code for $10 off at diapers.com plus free 2-day shipping on orders over $49 for new customers, it's PRNZ9830 . We ordered some of our gCloth from them.

DIY Pot Rack

I've been dying to have a pot rack for years now. I finally convinced my husband what a great idea it was after he saw how great the peg rack that I had him make me looked. So, off to Home Depot we went. We bought a 6 foot piece of pine for under $6.00 and we bought a package of 1 1/2" cup hooks.



To start Lay your wood on a surface to paint or stain it and get to work. It took about 20 minutes or so for the paint to dry.

Here it is all painted. I like to put a thin layer of paint on so that the wood grain still shows thru so it's more like a very dark stain.

Next comes the hard part, though it's not all that tough. Measure out where you would like to put the hooks so that they are all even.

Then all you need to do if find your studs, grab a level, and hang your rack. Voila, a DIY pot rack for under $20.00.

Website is coming along

Well, the website is finally starting to come together! Whew, I think I may have found a design I can live with. It's been a long time coming. I've been working on it over 6 months! I didn't want to launch it until it was perfect. And, having had no knowledge of how build a web page from the ground up it's taken a lot of research to get it to this point. Luckily, like every other great idea that I have, LOL, I had an epiphony in my sleep and had to put it to action the second I woke up. Hope you like the design. I'll be updating it over the next few weeks and hope to have a full launch very soon.

Got Ugly Purses?

I finally decided to take the splurge and get this yummy yarn that I saw at Michael's a while back and have been eyeing everytime I went in the store. It was finally on sale so that pushed me over the edge.

Now, that I had the yarn I had to figure out what to do with it. I decided on a purse. But, I didn't want to spend more money on fabric for lining and magnetic buttons and a handle. So, I pondered on it a bit and remembered that I had some old purses up in the top of one of our closets that someone gave me. So, I dragged them out and low and behold...... magnetic buttons and a handle that would be perfect for my purse. So here's how I did it.

First, I headed over to Raverly to get some ideas. I found a pattern that I liked and tweaked it a bit so it'd be a little more to my liking. Then, of course crocheted the outer portion of the purse. A few hours later, I was ready for the lining. I had an old shirt that I just couldn't get rid of even though it was too small because I loved the fabric, and coincidentally it happended to be a perfect match for my yarn, Jackpot! So, I layed the purse outer on the shirt and traced around the outside. Then cut leaving a half inch seam allowance on the sides and an inch or so on the top. Next, with like sides together, I sewed up the sides. You end up with something that looks like this.

Don't forget to sew any snaps or pockets onto the lining before you attatch the lining to the purse outer.

Next step, is to sew the lining in. I went just under the top row of single crochets. Being sure to leave the right sides facing in.

Last step.... Attatch your handles to your liking. I used a few layers of fabric so it would be a little stronger. Voila! You've recycled your old ugly purses and have a new boutique handmade purse that will be the envy of girls everywhere for just the cost of yarn, thread, and a needle.

All Dolled Up

Yay! She has clothes. For her dress I used a scrap piece of cotton leftover from a mei tai that I made a while back. Oh... I loved that mei tai, why did I have to sell her...... Ok, back to the subject. Her boots and sweater are made from a lightly felted cashmere sweater that I never wore but paid less than $7 off the clearance rack so I just had to have it, LOL. So, as you can imagine it is super soft. Still have to finish her hair, but that will have to wait until I order the yarn. It's just too cold to go out and buy some since all the kids now have a bad cold.

My First Waldorf Doll!

Finally!!! I was able to get away from the embroidery machine and the kids just long enough to make my first waldorf doll. As you can see she has already been confiscated by the littlest lady of the house sans clothing, lol. My goal for tomorrow is to make her some clothes. She is sooo soft and cuddly. Her body if a soft cotton interlock fabric and she is stuffed with wool batting. This was my first time working with both those mediums and let me tell ya, just like the wool felt I used at Christmas I am in love with both the fabric and the wool batting. Her arms are button jointed, which wasn't at all as hard as I thought it would be. I purchased all the items in a kit from Dancing Rain Dolls I do plan on adding more hair using some different textured yarn before I can call her completely done. Stay tuned to see how she turns out.

My first Toy Society Drop!

Well, We did it! Our first toy drop, how exciting! The kids helped choose where we would go. They chose the Roxana Public Library Children's section. We made the drop on January 5th, 2010 around 10:00 am. Can't wait to see if someone finds it. The kids are really excited too. For those who don't know, The Toy Society is a group of people from all around the world leaving anonymous handmade toys for people to find and take home. I copied this directly from the letter that you attatch to the toy "The Toy Society is a craft/street art project spreading love throughout the streets of the world. From Melbourne to Lisbon, Antwerp to Michigan and everywhere in between, The Toy Society is all about giving you a ‘something for nothing’ experience." How cool is that? I hope I brightened someones day, in our society unfortunately there are too few instances that you can truely get something for nothing, and that's what the project is all about, making the world a better place. If you think you'd like to join the toy society, I do have a link in my Fave Blogs :)

Felt food, Anyone?

What's not to love? Zero calorie food that anyone can appreciate. All the food is hand sewn from wool blend felt that I purchased at American Felt and Craft. I Love their selection of colors and the quality is amazing. Once you've had your hands on wool felt you will never go back to the cheap stuff again. These were made for my daughter for Christmas, but surprisingly enough the boys love them too! I had the family over and even the older boys were playing with them. For some great ideas check out Etsy. They have a few free patterns and tutes at American Felt and Craft The Blog too.

Ringing in the new year with a New BLOG!

Well, if you haven't already guessed. My new year's resolution is to get my online store and blog up and running. I've been busy, busy, busy doing some custom orders and making Christmas gifts so I've neglected my online endeavors :( I'll be adding some backposts that I didn't complete for December too. So, what's new and exciting? I ran across a fun blog that I am soooo going to join, The Toy Society. So what is The Toy Society you might ask.... it's a group of members who randomly drop handmade toys around the world for children to find. How cool is that? I will definately be updating where I leave my dropped toy, so stay tuned.