mommo

Ornament swappin'

Ahhhhh, one day until December and I still have about 16 stockings to make for my advent stockings. Hmmmm maybe I will put them up one by one each day.  I did manage to finish all of these though. I am doing the ornament swap and these are going out today. I can't wait until I start receiving mine in the mail. It will be so fun to see what everyone has come up with.  These I did by painting wooden tags I bought at Michaels. Then I mod podged on some vintage christmas card illustration and little german scraps. Then I put glass glitter on the edges so that they would really sparkle.  Better go get busy on those stockings!

Now it's official!

We can actually start decorating and not hiding it! I started to bring out some of my boxes of goodies and put up some of my vintage balls on the chandalier in the dining room. I love these balls and I have lots and lots of them so they get put everywhere. There is nothing like the colors of these balls. So yummy!

Froy and Olo has really been getting lots of action for the holidays so far which is great. I am awash in orders and glitter and packaging all of these up so I probably will be spotty around the blog for awhile.  I am also trying to get 24 little stockings made for an advent calendar and I have only this week to finish. I have four made so far so I have a ways to go!

I hope everyone really enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Sparkly Bells

The kids and  I had so much fun sitting around the table the other day doing this project as it stormed outside.  It has been so very wet around here. I was looking for something to occupy us and I happened to have a couple of empty egg cartons, which is really no big feat as we eat a ton of eggs. I cut it up so that each little cup was seperate. Then I poked a skewer through each "bell" and another hole in into the leftover top of the egg carton so they could dry there. After the paint was dry, they used paintbrushes to paint on the glue and then we glittered them. The little balls are tiny vintage christmas balls held in place with a piece of sparkly pipe cleaner.  I love the colors together.  This was a great project for both of their ages (4 & 7) because, though it was simple, the seven year old could fancy it up if he felt like it.  I think the results are so cute and happy.  I hung them from a piece of pink chenille  (thanks Lucy!)

  After we made these and I thought about it, I figured that egg cartons qualify for "alternative" craft, which is this months Whiplash theme. Alt craft/Non-traditional supplies.  Plus I heard on the radio that we are doing a poor job, as a state, of creating too much waste. We are great recyclers but we need to work harder. So here are two egg cartons that will be re-used instead of cast aside.  Plus I think they are just so cute.

Lucky me!

Ooooo look what the postman brought this week- a beautiful Pear pincushion that Heather made. (www.heatherbailey.typepad.com) It even has one of her new prints in it. It looks perfect perched on my shelf above the sewing machine-it even goes with the wall color!  I had sent her some vintage hangers and she sent this as an unecessary but very welcome thank you. Isn't it gorgeous?

Selena (www.apronthriftgirl.typepad.com) (I so need to learn how to make the name a link) is hosting an apron artist trading card swap.  I have never made any ATC's but I can see how addicting this will become. It is so nice to work in such a small format and they are so cute when they are done. Here is what I came up with.

On a couple of them I strung a ribbon through the top so they could hang but I dont know if this is against the trading card specs. I will have to find out.  The three I knit from the mohair/wool I bought at the senior center rummage sale this summer. I love how they turned out. Something about tiny knitted things has always appealed to me.  The others are from fabrics I had in my stash.  All except the one in the lower right corner which I cut out of a too small very cute gap baby shirt I bought at a garage sale last weekend for .25.  I am going to make tissue holders out of the rest of it. How great are those sequins? Its hard to tell from the photo but they are old and have taken on a really nice patina.  So huge thank yous to Selena for introducing me to such a fun activity. We only need to make 6 for the swap but I made seven so Selena could keep her favorite. I wonder if her favorite will be the one I like best too. Hmmmm. I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!

Ahhhhh finally!

I I finally got my Froy and Olo site updated! ( www.froyandolo.com )Its a nice load off because I have been meaning to get the new stuff up for some time. I have the hardest time getting decent pictures of the cards because of the glitter and the sheen and my less than perfect camera. But I think these couple of photos turned out pretty nicely.  Froy and Olo is a labor of love that was born out of a need to keep my creative mojo flowing while bringing in some money after I became a Mom.  "Froy" and "Olo" are the two names my son and his cousin called each other for quite some time when they were wee-before they could really articulate. The boys were born only 4 weeks apart to the day.  These two are thick as theives and have a load of fun together so it seemed the perfect name for this venture. That was about 5 years ago, (which hardly seems possible!) though the website has been up just a year and a half.  I keep maps on the wall in the family  room and when orders come in, the kids and I can find the place on the map. Its been a fun way to teach them a bit of geography and a fun example of the far reaching power of the internet.  Here is a photo of some of the calling cards I have been working on that I finally got on the site

These are a fun little item that came out of requests from people.  In the spirit of the holidays, I am giving away packs of assorted gift tags with orders to my regulars so if any readers want to get in on this, just put in the coupon code "mommo" in the comments section at checkout. I love gift tags! I got some new fun little square vellum envelopes so I am going to make up some special tags with those. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Nuts and Berries

I sat down to craft a few more acorns with a tutorial but then this happened

It started out as an acorn but don't you think its the sweetest little strawberry? The fabric was just so strawberryish. I think it turned out very cute though and I know just who will get this come Christmas. So  a happy accident and now this little how to will get you nuts and berries! Oh, and I am asking Santa for a new camera that can get close ups. Anyhoo...

Step one: Pick out your fabric and cut four pieces out as such: I have to say I winged it here sizewise. I cut out what I thought would make a nice sized acorn. The green felt I will sew wrong sides together because I like the line of tiny stitches like on the blue acorn from yesterday's post (I know! Two days in a row! Miracle) so I made them smaller as you don't need a seam allowance. Thats why the red pieces look so much bigger. The next step is to put two pieces together and sew down the edge to the point. Do this wrong sides together if you want your stitches to show, and right sides together if you will be turning, like with the berry.

When you have all four side together, it should look like this:

At this point, turn so raw edges are inside and stuff the little bugger. When I stuffed yesterday's acorn I actually used scraps of felt that were leftover from cutting out the pieces. The berry got wool stuffing. The next step I do not have a photo of so I will try to be clear. I ran a line of stitches around the outside top edge and I pulled it tight. This brings in the top and if you carefully poke the top rough edges into toward the interior, and then put your needle through to the bottom, it brings the top in very nicely. I then put the needle back in the bottom, and pulled it gently to the top. Then I tied it off. For the felt I did the same but you really don't have to be too picky because the acorn cap will cover it. Then I made a tiny green felt leaf and sewed it on the berry. For the acorns I think the key here is really to have several different sizes of acorn caps so you can make your nut and then find the proper sized hat for it. I used a big embroidery needle and I slowly and carefully poked it through the cap. I twisted it through so it wouldn't crack the top. Then you sew that hat on your acorn, cover it with glue and glitter and Viola! These are so cute and tiny I think I am going to make a bunch. I hope my directions make sense!

Its official!

I have decided that the holiday season is officially open. Fall swept past with some difficult stuff and now I am ready to make paper snowflakes and bake cookies and start making gifts for people. I don't care if its early- I just want some holiday cheer for as long as possible this year. In that spirit, I made this little acorn ornament today. I have been collecting litte acorn caps for sometime and I thought a tiny felt acorn would be so cute. Its hard to see but the acorn top is covered in clear german glass glitter. I am a huge fan of german glass glitter and have been wanting to get into my stash for a few weeks. The colors are so great. I have a great place to buy it but I will have to find the url if anyone is interested. I hung this little guy on our lamp to take the picture and it looks pretty cute there so it will probably stay there for awhile. Another reason I know its officially the start of the holiday season is that today I found Silknog at the store! Oooo if you haven't tried it, it makes the best french toast ever. And its dairy free! Hey Selena- it looks like it is gluten free too (though you might want to double check) it is yummy! And this from a girl who really does not like soy milk. Hope everyone else is getting excited about the holidays or it could be a long month around here!

Edited: I found the url for the german glass glitter people and it is www.splintersandrags.com  They are lovely towork with and the prices are very reasonable. Let me know what you make with it!