New Fonts!

Hey everyone! I have put some new fonts up for you to check out---thanks to this awesome site---kevinandamanda.com/fonts. There are some really neat fonts on there and I picked a bunch of my favorites. Be sure to check them out on my Fonts and Colors page. I'm super excited to try these out in vinyl, so if you'd like to purchase some vinyl in one of these fonts, I'll give you a 10 % discount on your total purchase!

Good Deals at the Copy Shop

I went to the copy shop to send off a vinyl order and I found out that they sell chipboard! It's been a while since I've bought some of it at the craft store, but if I remember right, it's at least a quarter there (for the thinner grade stuff). But at the copy shop, they only charge 10 cents!!
AWESOME deal!

Another good deal I got last week----Fashion Bug sends me these coupons for $10 off of $10 and so I go and shop the clearance stuff--I got the cutest yellow purse for only 99 cents! Believe it!

Tea-Dyed Purse by Me!

I have gotten really into sewing the past little while---I never really sewed growing up, but I've discovered that it's something that I enjoy and kind of have a knack for. I've done a few sewing projects--the hobby chair I talked about in an older post--I re-upholstered the cushions; I made pillows for our couch; a crib skirt with my mom, a baby quilt with my grandma; and a few other little projects here and there. I think the BIG turning point in my sewing frenzy started in December, when my husband wanted me to make him some Christmas neck ties--so we went to JoAnn's and bought some festive fabric for me to start the project with. I took an old tie and ripped it up to see how it was put together, and then I made my own pattern. I made him 10 ties! I had so much fun, and the more I did, the better and faster I got at it. They looked really nice, and he loved wearing them to work. I decided I wanted to make a purse or bag, but I didn't want to spend the money on a pattern, and I couldn't find one that I really liked enough anyway. So I made my own pattern for this! It took me some time...figuring out the pattern in my head before I could draw it out and all, but once I knew what I wanted, it was no problem putting it down on paper.


I fell in love with the fabric as soon as I saw it. To me, it looked like what a vintage fabric would look like before the aging process. So after I had all my pieces cut out, I wanted to tone it down a bit--just so it wasn't stark white. I thought tea dyeing it would be perfect! All you need to tea dye is:

-A HUGE bowl
-Lots of tea bags (I used chamomile tea--it gave it a nice golden tone)
-A big pot of boiling water
-towels to lay your fabric out on

All I did was boil a ton of water, then I poured it into the big bowl. I put almost all of the tea bags into the water---put more or less in depending on how dark you want it, and then let them soak for a while...until you like the color. I bet if you used black tea, it would turn your fabric much darker. I liked the golden tone the chamomile tea gave me. It would be fun to try different kinds of tea to see the resulting colors. Once the water was the color I liked, I squeezed the water out of the tea bags and took them out. Then I put my fabric in the water. I would be careful about how many pieces of fabric you put in--if you over-crowd them, the color won't be even. I did a test run first, I took a scrap and let it soak to see if I liked the color, then I did the rest. I also stirred the fabric around every once in a while so that the color would take evenly. I ended up letting it soak overnight, and I really liked my end result.

Here is a picture of the inside pocket I did--I needed some help with this, so I read this great tutorial here at Sew, Mama, Sew--it was really helpful and the pictures were great to help along the way.

You can see that I also did a magnetic clasp. I even put a hook thing on the inside--I'm not sure what it's called---and I'll eventually make some kind of zippered pouch to attach to it.

If you're wondering where I got the hardware...I went to the Thrift Store downtown and I found an old purse for $2, then I just cut all the clasps and hooks off. I couldn't find any of this type of hardware in the stores here, and I bet even if I did, it would have been a lot more expensive...and this hardware is REALLY nice and sturdy. I would definitely recommend reusing old purse hardware for a project like this.

So I wore this purse for the first time yesterday...and I LOVED IT! It was really comfy because the strap is nice and wide, and I could hardly feel it on my shoulder. I love the size...and I love how it is soft and slouchy....I think I might even make another one...

"Vintage" Fleurettes

I realized that in between my bigger projects, I have mini-projects...and this is one of them. I made this pretty little flower out of satinette, gold tulle, and a "vintage" brad. I put it on a pin so that you can wear it on a coat, or put it on a purse or anywhere else you feel like fancy-ing up. I actually like the slightly burned edges on it---it makes it feel older, and I really like that kind of thing. For anyone that wants to know how to do this---all you need is a candle and the things I mentioned above. At first I was using matches, and I went through about 20 when I realized....why am I not using a CANDLE?!? So all you do is cut the satinette into circles, starting with a big circle for the outer petal, then cut them smaller and smaller as you move to the inside. Then you burn or just barely melt the edges of your circles with the flame--careful to not catch it on fire! I also did this with the tulle---but it does burn a lot faster, so I just quickly swiped the edges of the tulle across the flame and that did the trick. Once I had them all burned, I arranged the circles how I liked them, then I poked a hole in the center with my exacto knife so I could put my brad through. It's as easy as that! And super fun, too! I also made a smaller one and put it on a bobby pin for a cute vintage hair clip. Now I hafta get back to my mirrored window frame I'm working on......crackle paint is my doom....

Vinyl Give-Away!

Congratulations to our Vinyl Give-Away Winner! You have been contacted by e-mail. Thanks to all who participated! It was so much fun getting all of your favorite quotes---I appreciate all the help! Please continue leaving your favorite quotes in the comments to build up the quotes bank, and keep checking back for more give-aways and craft ideas!

Check these out...

I've found yet another thing I enjoy doing---making beaded watch bands. I've seen lots of people wearing them, but I never looked into it until recently. I saw the zebra pattern beads awhile ago and I couldn't get them out of my head! So I finally went back to the bead shop and got them, along with a bunch of other beads that really make them pop!

Look at these raspberry beads I found---I've never seen anything like these! Had to get 'em!I love the neutral tones--they go with everything!

Rustic Home Blocks

I love these blocks I made because they look old and rustic. The vinyl lettering was tricky because there are some super itty bitty pieces, as you can see. But it was well worth it to carry the old look from the blocks onto the letters. For the blocks, I painted them soft black first, then did the antique white over the top of it. I wanted the edges to look real old, like paint peeling (not just sanded), so I used my sanding block on the edges when the paint was still a little tacky. It kind of made the paint roll off, giving it that peeled look. I got that nifty little bird house at Real Deals---love that place! :)

Spring Has Sprung!

I just got this done tonight at about 11:30! My husband came to the rescue and watched the baby so I could get it done....I was waiting all day to finish it! It feels so good to have another project completed---and this one turned out even cuter than I had imagined! If you love it, check it out on my Crafts For Sale page! I cut out the flowers by hand from patterned paper, and then I used my digital craft cutter to cut out the leaves and the vinyl lettering. Then I Mod Podged it all to the wood blocks. It really brightens up the room! If anyone has a spring type craft on your blog that you'd like to show off, leave me a comment with your blog address because I'd love to see it!

So the next thing on my list is to finish the tea dyed purse I started.....

Some of my creations....

I've decided to start posting some crafts that I've done in the recent past to help give me a blogging boost. I'm hoping this'll get me motivated to get my current projects done. Right now I'm working on a tea-dyed purse that I created my own pattern for, a "spring has sprung" decoration to encourage the coming season, a handful of fat quarters just waiting for me to make some pincushions out of, and some newly bought, plain old mirrors with a nice big fatty wooden border around them just screaming to be gussied up. I'm glad to say, that as of about 5 minutes ago, I finished a gorgeous beaded watch band (a new hobby to add to the list) and I can still smell the glue drying that seals the knot. I also finished a different kind of beaded watch band last week---using safety pins, elastic, and those little teeny tiny glass beads that when you breathe they roll all over the place to be forever lost in the carpet. Slowly, but surely, things are coming along!



This was a fun project! All you need for this is a nice piece of wood, 2 colors of paint, vinyl lettering, and the damask design in vinyl. First I painted the wood tan, and let it dry really well. Once it was dry, I put my damask vinyl design on. Then I painted the soft black OVER the entire vinyl design. I did a couple of coats so the paint looked real sharp. Then I PEELED the vinyl damask design off, revealing the tan underneath! I found in my many experiments that you HAFTA get the good tole paints--like Delta Ceramcoat or Americana. I tried the off brand paints with a project like this one, where you peel the vinyl off, and all it did was peel the paint off with it. It was a disaster. So stick with the good stuff! Next I put my vinyl lettering on over my design, and voila! Just get a cute little stand to display it on and you've got a really fancy decoration!

Since Easter is coming up, I just have to show you all this card I made! The broken buttons took some muscle--as well as a sock and some pliers! I used the sock (clean :-) )as a shield so I wouldn't scratch the buttons with the pliers as I broke them. My husband says I could put this card in a shadowbox type frame and make it into a holiday decoration if I wanted to. Great idea, Honey!

Alright, the next two fall under my furniture refinishing hobby!


Before---this is what we call our "hobby chair"--I'm not really sure how this name came about, I think it might be because at one point I had a lot of my craftin' things piled high on it.



I wanted to fix this one up so it matched our tan sectional (you can kinda see it in the background there). So I went to Home Fabrics and bought some tan microsuede fabric that was a dead on match to our couch. I have NEVER reupholstered anything in my life, but I wanted to give it a try. So I ripped those green covers off and took them apart. I wanted to use those as a pattern for the new covers. Of course that didn't quite work out like I had hoped. So I had to figure it out as I went, and it actually turned out REALLY nice! I was super excited with the results. I also refinished the body of the chair and painted it a nice soft black to match our couch.


Here's the AFTER.....