and now for something completely different

Wrist cuffs for attendees at 12 year old's birthday party. Tutorial can be found here.
If your last name is the same as mine, you can expect something like this under the tree. Glasses in a variety of sizes and styles etched with different themes. This is the easiest project. Slap a stencil on a glass, slap some glass etching cream on that, let it work according to package directions, rinse and give.

My sister in law hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this year. I made her this cheery cherry apron as a thank you.

Crafting for Sanity

Lots of impending changes coming up for this family . Crafting keeps my hands busy and my head from exploding. So, today's installment keeping me sane involves a tweet.

A silly, winding story for your Thursday pleasure. My friend @kt_writes, whom I've mentioned before and previously, wrote about why people feel the need to impose rules on tweeting. Generally speaking, I am a rule abider, but if they are dumb rules or imposed by someone I feel has no authority to be telling me what's what, I kind of ignore them.

My friend does this, too. Apparently there are some folks who don't want to read tweets about what people eat. But my friend is a foodie and rather a good cook. She tweets frequently about good grub she's enjoying. I like this because it gives me ideas to make for my family, who will soon tire of breakfast for dinner, I fear. (I can't drive to her house every night for dinner because the drive is longer than I thought it was, but that's for another day.)

She then tweeted her need for a shirt that proclaimed her affinity for eat-tweets. My friend breaks rules, too. We're so dangerous.

Ergo, today's creation. I'm sending this little number to KT knowing it is simply too enormous for her, and that she may never leave the house in a goofy, shapeless tee. I hope she keeps eat-tweeting.

Linen Lovelies

Made some cute little linen lovelies yesterday. Set of three lunch bags, unlined. The big one fits a sammich and has a cotton floss around 2 button closure. Then, two littler velcro closed bags for your crunchy snacks and your .... something chocolatey. This linen is machine washable, btw.

Then, this completely adorable boxy pouch. Lined with same linen and zippered closed. Tiny little pouch can be thrown in your purse or attached to your backpack. Fits lipstick, or you know, whatever.

Super Cute Custom Packaging

One of my many "jobs" is a Mary Kay consultant. I really love the products and meeting interesting new women. But my heart is in my studio where if I could I would create all day (that is my goal this year, and I am getting closer every day, but that's a story for another day).

One of the most important components of MK, or really any business, is quality customer service. MK encourages women to be who they are and act with integrity in our interactions with our customers. My friend Bea is a shining example of examplary customer service. Her stock is full, she returns calls quickly, she gives free shipping and delivery, and she takes product presentation seriously.

In the coming days, fellow MK ladies and other home business owners can start sharing Bea's passion for product presentation by visiting my etsy shop. I am stocking my virtual shelves with business card/sample holders, small product bags and customer note cards. I can offer them in sizes from 1" to 23" and virtually any color. These will be fully customizable and built to customer specifications. The other cool thing about them is they will be cost effective for the home office. Each order will come cut and ready to assemble, with score lines marked, a bone folder included and instructions if necessary. Also a glue stick!

Think of them as little diy kits for showing the best of your biz.

See images for ideas.

Brain Overload

I was out of town for a week. I've been back almost a week. I'm still behind on everything. Dirty Laundry is strewn about the house like so many ghostly children, dishes dangle precariously in the sink,custom orders call my name. The dog keeps pooping in my studio, the kids have almost daily year-end events for which I mindlessly (and happily) volunteered.

Today it is my intention to finish a few custom orders, wash some dishes, cycle through the laundry and play on the video game with the littlest kid. I know that when I do this, he will yell at me, because my gaming skills are lacking.

On my list of fun things: cloth napkins, a kindle case for EM, teacher's summer fun fabric buckets, and lunch with the big boy.

The picture above doesn't pertain to anything other than well, I like it.

LaRue's New Digs

We call our daughter B Fifi Larue. Her little brother started calling her Fifi out of the blue when she was in Kindergarten. He must have been 2; he could say her name, he just chose to call her Fifi.

The name has taken many variations over the years. Fee, Feef, and now Fifi Larue and its short form, Larue. (I just discovered there is a performer who goes by the name Fifi Larue. Did not know that.)

Larue told me she likes it when I call her that. I will do pretty much anything to make my kids smile and so I call her Larue. Larue plays soccer and Larue likes bling.

I made this shirt for Larue by placing a bajillion tiny swarovski crystals around a soccer ball pattern and applying them with heat to a shirt we already had. She is happy; another way I can make her smile.