felted wool animals

I'd been saving up some old wool sweaters for just this very thing...felting them (washing and drying on hot) and making this cute little wooly lamb I'd seen awhile back in one of my holiday Martha magazines.  This year was finally the year to try it out and I have to say that I love sewing up old sweaters.  It's really fun!  They don't look like much as you're going, but once you turn them right-side out at the very end, its like magic!!!  After I made my first periwinkle cable knit lamb, I altered the pattern to try to make a little deer just by switching up the tail and ears. (That pattern could still use some tweaking!)  Then I added some french knots made out of yarn to the deer and a tiny hand knitted scarf to the lamb.  With lots of babies in our family and friends having babies, I can't wait to make up more of these cute little creatures to have on hand for gifts.  I have so many more ideas and sweaters waiting to be sewn!  Happy crafting!  :)

making, doing lately...

...decanting whole tea leaves into cute chalkboard-labeled container (sitting on the table where we see it makes us use & enjoy more often now!)

...sprucing up a mirror with a pretty Shanna Murray decal

...making sweet baby photobooks on Shutterfly (this is a little addicting and fun!)

...making cards & celebrating our 10th (oh wow, I can't believe it) anniversary last weekend!!!

...framing pressed plants to spruce up the walls

...painting...getting into painting again...trying some abstract...the photo above shows a painting in the very beginning stages!  I really don't know what I'm doing for certain but its fun and a little stress-relieving!

party prep...

It all began innocently enough with a moose stamp I happened to come across online one day several months back when I was looking for something else...and before I knew it I found myself painting plastic moose entirely a solid blue color and others light brown, painting baby food jars the same color (original idea here...although I didn't dip mine), sewing paper garlands, making moose invitations, sawing & sanding branches, making cake flags, and more!  When I first saw this adorable moose stamp I immediately thought it'd be a neat theme to springboard from for little Bub's first birthday party...it was so cute and boy-ish and being that we live "up north" and all I thought it'd be fun and inspire me...and it did!  So that's the kind of crafting I've been up to for the past several weeks.  And now that the party has come and gone, I'll have a few party photos to come too!  Phew!!!  No one told me a 1st birthday party was so much work!  ;)

spring things...

Recently I made a couple new garlands...one, the butterfly one directly above, was requested by mum for her birthday (similar to the Valentine ones I made here.) I never did take a proper photo of it before giving it to her so this is a snippet of a photo she sent me to show how she hung it above her kitchen table. Also, for fun I got inspired one night to make a very springy, floral and birdy, garland/banner. For this one I used only old vintage cards and some vintage polka dot paper to break it up a bit. And those white branches I spray-painted last fall have become my interchangeable seasonal display. Ornaments were hung from them at Christmas. In February, they held a little red paper heart garland. And now for Spring, I twisted on a few pretty pink paper flowers to mimic some blossoming branches. Its amazing how something so simple can make such a big difference to me!

a Valentine-y lunch...

I wasn’t necessarily going to do much of anything for Valentine’s Day this year. I usually at least make some cards or a little something...but I just wasn’t really in the mood.

I haven’t really been in the mood to do a whole lot of anything lately, except the basics…taking care of my family. I’d have these big crafting ideas, but then come evening, once little baby was finally tucked into bed, I’d find myself quickly crawling into my own bed soon after with a good book and the heating blanket turned on high. I guess its best to listen to your body. Sometimes I think that whenever little bub is napping or sleeping at night, I need to be doing something very productive with my time. And I’m slowly learning (now that he is becoming a better napper) that there will always be another nap, another moment to myself. So I can relax a little bit and give myself a break once in awhile, which I’ve been trying to do... But then Mum and Dad decided to come up for a visit this past Saturday. And since it was close to Valentine's Day I decided it'd be fun to turn an ordinary meal together into a little V-Day lunch/celebration. Of course we’d eat something together, so why not make it into something a little extra special, since we don’t often see each other anyways? I love having my parents in my home and treating them like special guests, because they are! And it was a good excuse to use some dishes and things that I don't often use. So it all spiraled from there…a few days beforehand I had taken little baby outside for some fresh air, to watch the Chickadees at the feeder. And I plucked off some tiny pinecones from a nearby tree. Suddenly some “Pining for you, Valentine” place cards popped into my head. Perfect for our special Valentine lunch. (Doesn’t all inspiration happen randomly like that? At least it does for me!) Then sometime soon after a butterfly mobile hanging from the light fixture popped into my head as well and I just had to make it...even if it meant staying up late the night before.

I was planning on making Chicken a la King for lunch, something warm and comforting on a very cold, blustery winter afternoon...

...and suddenly I had to make the biscuits from scratch and in the shape of hearts no less! Then, somewhere in the midst of sleep the night before, I had the idea for us to write down one thing we love about our spouse on a heart doily, so I had to go dig those out from my craft stuff......but as I announced this little plan during our lunch, someone else came up with an even more brilliant idea to write our little love note inside the "Pining for You, Valentine" place cards. This made far more sense as we had much more room to write and we all easily came up with more than just one thing we love about our spouse. We read them aloud after our meal and it all ended on a very love-y, Valentine-y note...which made me so pleased indeed...and I do think did all of our hearts just a bit of good!
Happy Valentine's Day! :)

simple merry...

A very simple "merry" Christmas garland...

I made this a couple weeks ago when my anticipation for some Christmas crafting reached its peak. I tried the new Martha Stewart glitter paint in "wintermint" and painted some chipboard letters with several coats of it! (Would have been better to paint them white first, maybe?) Then I punched some tiny holes in the letters, strung on baker's twine, and added a couple woodland-ish touches on both ends. And voila! A very simple little Christmas project! :)

first owl, first ornament...

In recent spare little moments of free time, which are so few lately, I wanted to do something silly and simple...so I tried my hand at making a little fabric owl ornament pieced together with various fabrics, wool scraps, bits of gold thread, vintage buttons, and pretty winter blue rick rack.

Just as I was adding the final finishing stitches on it, it popped in my mind that I would give it to little baby bub, for his very first Christmas, his first ornament, his first owl. :)

ornament time!

I get a little happy excited when I think about tiny boxes filled with sparkly, glittery things...and its getting closer now! I recently finished up an order for these wintry white mushroom ornaments. And this minty, sparkly sweet deer ornament was something I started last winter but didn't finish until well after Christmas and didn't photograph until just the other day...but it's now in my shop too.
See all the ornaments right here!

little weekend projects...

The weekend was good and laid back...the first one that's felt like this in a long while. I made some chocolate covered strawberries for a friend's wife's birthday.

I hadn't made them in a looong time... I forgot how good these are!

Also, I finished my project for little baby's room. Remember these old frames? I decided to pretty much leave them as is except for a bit of sanding (originally I had planned to paint them but decided I liked the natural/rustic wood look best...it complements the brown accents and juxtaposes nicely with all the crisp white in his nursery). As you can see, I have a little bit of a "deer" theme going. I searched for vintage children's books containing deer illustrations to find a good picture for the bottom left frame...and luckily I came across a great book at my local thrift shop that had a neat cover illustration. The book must have been in a library at one time as there was plastic over the paper jacket cover. So when I took off the plastic it was still in great condition! The other two frames contain some patterned paper topped off with handcut things...a deer silhouette and the letter "A" in a light green paper...It's a little hard to see in this photo...but I'm so happy with how it all turned out!

in the studio {fox shadows}

Getting back "in the studio" again after a looong break...now with a sweet baby at my feet! Here are a couple snippets of a new wedding cake topper in the works...another foxy couple. I don't think I've lost my touch (I was a little worried)...but it feels nice to work with colors & papers & glue & wire again!
I have more ideas than I have time now, but that's okay...life moves at a different sort of speed right now and things will eventually happen when they can, so I jot them down for later. It's a good time right now, full of change & joy, baby laughter & smiles...so I want to enjoy every day, every moment with my little one!

little handmade gifts

Springtime always brings many birthdays and such for me. This year, I decided to give a few handmade touches to some of my gifts. Here're a few recent ones...

This little knitted birdy, made using the same pattern I followed for my bird mobile, was modified a bit into a lady-like sachet by incorporating lavendar into the fill as well.

Another little crafty gift with a springtime touch, a paper butterfly garland.

Pretty simple to put together, this garland was constructed using a punch, pretty papers in pale pinks, greens, creams, and my sewing machine. I wrapped it around sturdy pieces of cardstock glued and stitched together with other little embellishments.

And lastly, little wool felt zipper pouches that I had seen the tutorial for on this fun, inspiring blog last year. They are rather addicting to make, being that you can use up little bits and things to embellish each one however you'd like. I used random colored zippers I'd found at my local thrift shop, vintage seambinding to top off the zipper pulls, and wool felt scraps that I had on hand. To embellish them I used buttons, fabric, flowers, and a bit of embroidery.

They are so fun to make in fact that I think I'll have to make a few more... Now that I've finished my big (little baby) sweater project! (Photos of that to come soon, hopefully!)
Happy crafting! ~L

dutch yellow {craft kit}

Feeling a bit crafty lately, I put together this little craft kit of handmade & vintage bits and goodies for the shop...right here. I also added my recently made garland to the shop too, here. And perhaps a few more things to come soon! Crafting seems to be a good diversion to the big upcoming event in my life... While I'm often overloaded with baby info as we've recently taken a couple classes and have baby books and things lying around everywhere, crafting is good way for me to relax and have some normalcy as this super exciting time approaches!

a Spring garland...

Yesterday I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed, out of sorts, and in need of a dose of some carefree springtime crafting...the perfect remedy to an out-of-sorts sort of day! ..... {Happy Birthday, Mum!}