Yuck!!

I am originally from upstate NY and my mother-in-law still lives there. She hates the weather as much as I do. She decided she would share the wonderful pic of the first snow storm in upstate NY yesterday! I am SO glad I am not there! Unfortunately, we are going up for Thanksgiving and I am wishing on every star that the snow is gone (I think I will be wishing for a long time as having no snow in NY would be like birds flying with no wings).

It's a girl!

My niece was born on 10/02. I haven't been able to see her yet but I have finally got pics. I just have to share:

This is Jaiden





















This is both of my nieces "Jaiden and Alyssa"

Thanks

Thanks to everyone that left me a comment or emailed me with great advice for craft shows. I wanted everyone to know it is greatly appreciated!

I can sew

Okay this is funny. I love crafts but there is one thing I have never really tried my hand at. That is sewing!! I can crochet, draw, scrapbook, paint and many other things but I have never really gave much thought to sewing. I am not saying that I have never sewed because I could do the basics. Well I decided to buy a sewing machine this week and expand my horizons. I bought some material today and decided to try making some curtains for my kitchen. I surprised myself because they actually didn't turn out half bad for my first try. I got two windows done and have two more to go. I did notice that the second set were much better than the first set.

This is not a great pic but the sun was still slightly shining

Craft show

Well my mother-in-law and I have decided to do our very first craft show next year. So my post today is asking your advice. Any tips or tricks we need to know? Any "what not to do" advice?

For so many years I have gone to craft show after craft show and walked around thinking I should sell the things that I have made. Well now I am finally going to do it instead of just thinking about it. I am asking for all the help I can get to make our first experience as successful as possible.

Cauldron

This was a really cool idea for a Halloween centerpiece.

Witches Cauldron

The combination of dry ice and water in a witch's cauldron is an inexpensive way to create an air of other-worldly magic.

What to Do
To create the spooky scene, purchase dry ice from your local grocery store's seafood department or ice supplier. Using tongs or thick gloves, place the dry ice in a watertight container; cover with water. Warm water will create more smoke, but it will disappear quickly. Cooler water will produce less dense smoke but it will last longer. If the amount of smoke decreases during you party, add more dry ice and water.


These were the most adorable little cats:

Halloween Cats

Guard your windowsill with a Cat Patrol of acorn squash. All you need is some black paint, cardboard scraps, felt markers, and glitter glue. Children will love to make their own. You could also arrange them on a mantel or scatter them around the house in unexpected places -- peering out of a cupboard, looking down from atop a bureau, behind a door, or even on a coat closet shelf.

You Will Need
Acorn squash in assorted sizes
Black acrylic paint
Medium-sized paintbrush
Scraps of cardboard for ears, eyes, mouths, and whiskers
Glitter glue for whiskers and mouths
Colored markers: yellow, green, blue, and black
Tacky glue or a glue gun to attach ears, whiskers, etc.
Scissors
Pencil
Optional: Scraps of foil to line inside of ears (we used purple)

What to Do
1. Paint each squash black and allow to dry thoroughly. It may take two or three coats.

2. Turn the squash so the stem end becomes the nose.

3. From cardboard, draw and cut the following shapes for each: two elongated triangles for ears; two elliptical ovals for eyes; two small ovals for the center of each eye; optional small circles or strips to fit with eye centers as shown in photo; four whiskers, approximately 3 inches x 1/8 inch; an anchor-like shape for the mouth.

4. With markers, color ears black and other features blue, green, yellow or black as desired.

5. Add glitter glue to the whiskers and mouths.

6. Optional: Cut two smaller triangles for each ear (to fit inside the first pair) from purple foil and glue in place.

7. Secure all features to the painted squash with tacky glue or a glue gun.

Glowing Ghosts

To set up this suitably spooky scene for partygoers or trick-or-treaters, invite a few of our fiendishly clever spirits. They're easy to make ... glow sticks power these unique ghouls for up to 8 hours, so there's no need for power cords. And they go together in only three short steps ... almost as fast as you can say, "Boo!"

All you need are round, white balloons, cheesecloth cut to lengths of about a yard, and glow sticks. We used green, 4-inch glow sticks, found in party supply stores or on-line.

What to Do
1. Activate a glow stick and insert it into a balloon.

2. Position the knot at the top of the balloon, and use an indelible black marker to draw the eyes and a mouth. .

3. Drape the cheesecloth over the balloon, cut a small hole and push the knot through the fabric. Secure with string and hang in the breeze.

Wedding gifts

This is the wedding album that I made for my sisters wedding gift.

Gift for a friend

We just found out that one of the new girls
at work is getting married this weekend.
I went to the dollar store tonight and bought
a $3 photo album and tada! It's a last
minute gift and only cost me
$3 plus scraps of material, batting
and ribbon.

I'm honored

I am honored to receive the award below. This award was given to me by http://craftythisandthat.blogspot.com/

Thank you craftymug, I hope I can continue to live up to the award.

This award is called the "ProximidadeAward" or "Friendship Around The World Award". Originally this award was written in spanish, but it translates to highlight blogs that are pleasing or special in some way, and also to extend the hand of friendship around the world. And now I have to pass this award on to 8 blogs.

I would like to pass this award onto the following:

http://jacobandrachel.blogspot.com/
http://luv2bake-bakingandmore.blogspot.com/
http://craftydaisies.com/
http://averagejanecrafter.blogspot.com/
http://monstercrochet.blogspot.com/
http://crafts.mld5.com/
http://www.creativechaos.typepad.com/
http://creative4kids.com/

Crocheting for Barbie

I was looking through my pictures today and I came across these pics of a couple of barbie dresses that I made a couple of years ago. I thought it would be neat to share them.

Wedding Barbie

I started out working from a pattern. That didn't last long, I changed the whole design shortly after I started.

I made this for my little
sister when she was
collecting dolls.

Holiday Barbie

This one I made with no pattern.

Crafts and more

Today is going to be a little bit of everything post. So here goes...

Crocheting:
Craftbits.com

Crochet for Dummies


Scrapbooking:
http://www.scrapbook.com/

http://scrapbooking.lovetoknow.com/Main_Page

Sewing:
http://www.freeneedle.com/

http://www.craftandfabriclinks.com/

Let's crochet

Here are today's links. When the weather starts getting colder is when I usually pull out my yarn and crochet hooks. So it looks like it is getting to be that time of year again.

Learning links:
http://crochet.about.com/
http://www.craftown.com/crolesson.htm
http://www.learntoknit.com/instructions_cr.php3
http://learntocrochet.lionbrand.com/




Great patterns:
http://www.crochetnmore.com/
http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/
http://www.freevintagecrochet.com/
http://www.purplekittyyarns.com/free-patterns/holiday-craft-patterns.html



I thought these were the neatest little things.
They can be found on the above link for purplekittyyarns.com.

What to do....

Well I found out today that my brand new niece is in the hospital with jaundice. She was born last Thursday and weighed 7lbs 1oz and was 19ins long. Her name is Jaiden Elizabeth....I haven't gotten to see her yet as she lives 4 hours from me. I don't even have pics yet :(

I was trying to decide what to post for crafts today and I figured you know what...with the holidays coming making jewelry would be my best bet. Here are some more great links for making your own jewelry:



http://jewelrymaking.about.com/
http://www.beadjewelrymaking.com/bead_project.html
http://www.beadage.net/projects/index.shtml
http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/stepbystep/index_beads.cfm

http://www.rockfront.com/beadpatterns.htm
http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/artscrafts/beadjewelry.html

I hate Mondays

Today was another exhausting day at work. Working for a background screening company is not always a bowl of cherries. Especially when you work as the Quality Control Leader in the criminal research dept. Seems like I spend half my day looking for criminals and the other half trying to explain to clients why we didn't find the criminals that admitted to being criminals.

Ok well onto some great tips and tricks for today:

Let's organize our craft supplies:
1. Use a 3 ring binder for your patterns. Just punch holes in each one and place in binder. Dividers can be used to separate the patterns into categories.
2. Use stackable drawers to store fabric and yarn.
3. Use over the door shoe racks to store ribbon, scraps, and whatever you can't find a spot for.
4. Tackle boxes work well for all those little pieces such as pins, needles, crochet hooks, safety pins and so much more.
5. The bags that you buy at Christmas time to store wrapping paper work well for storing yarn and fabric.

Not a Good Day

I know this is my craft page but I need to vent. I am a huge race fan and Dale Jr was just taken out by one of the biggest idiot drivers in Nascar today. I am one of the Kyle Busch haters but today Carl Edwards moved right up to the top of my list. I was so excited because Jr has been running up front most of the day and my name was one of the 10,000 Jr Nation fans listed on his car. Not a happy day for me!

Now that I got that out here are some great ideas for Halloween:

http://holidays.kaboose.com/halloween/
http://www.101halloweenideas.com/
http://www.halloween-online.com/

Let's get organized

Here are some great ideas on getting organized (and yes everyone can do it, I think I may even try it myself)

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_organizing_other/0,1800,HGTV_3138,00.html
http://www.lifeorganizers.com/
http://www.onlineorganizing.com/ExpertAdviceToolbox.asp
http://www.ehow.com/how_2109082_become-organized-one-minute-time.html