Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Gift guide for Mother's Day

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Hi folks!

Way back when, I would make gift guides and share them on my blog. Lately, I've been thinking of doing that again, especially while looking at so many items for thank you gifts at my wedding. Most items I will hold off  sharing until after the wedding in June so I don't spoil any surprises beforehand. However, with Mother's Day coming up, I thought would share a few of my favorite things I've considered for the mothers in my life. For this list I browsed through aftcra, which is an online marketplace for handmade goods made only in the USA. Each picture is clickable to go to the listing where you can purchase the handmade item.


My parents recently had parts of their house remodeled and I thought this custom embroidery hoop would be something to celebrate that. You send in a photo of the front of the house and can request any special features to be highlighted, whether you want the shrubbery in, or not, etc. With all of this work, the custom order only takes 1-2 weeks which I find amazingly fast. Check out Thistle and Thread Design when you're ready for your own custom house portrait.


Mosaics tend to catch my eye and this coaster set was no exception. I couldn't believe how many tiny pieces of stained glass were fit into each coaster. What mini-masterpieces! Each coaster is 4 inches x 4 inches and can come in sets of 2, 4, 6, etc. Check out Earth Mother Mosaics when you get the chance--you won't be disappointed!


One of the things that I have been contemplating for my wedding is driftwood signs. I thought it might be a nice keepsake for my parents to have one to take home with them. I'm impressed with the uniqueness and custom nature of this driftwood sign by Destination Tree. You can get a group of them like this together or simply one AND you can request a custom engraved message on each one.


My mom always says that a piece of her heart is with me. This necklace from Like Mother Like Daughter Hand-Stamped Jewelry demonstrates just that. The necklaces are made of sterling silver and you can choose the length that you would like--18", 20" and 24".

 Western Art Glass

My mother loves stained glass and reused items and this mobile fits the bill! Can you believe those gorgeous leaves are made from an up-cycled glass bottle? Shop Western Art Glass has really outdone themselves with this piece.


This gorgeous Glass Encased Fabric Necklace by Themis and Thread encapsulates so many of my and my mother's favorite things--blue, hand embroidery and silver. To make this even more amazing, it is a double sided necklace. The paisley flower pattern is so sweet to me.


And of course who could leave out this mug from Mini Masterpieces AZ? To relax, my mom and I would pull out pajamas and put on a show to watch while drinking tea.  For easy cleanup, this 11 ounce mug can even go in the dishwasher.

I hope this post generates more ideas for Mother's Day gifts this year. Consider showing USA makers some love by purchasing gifts through Aftcra this year. 

holiday shipping deadlines

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Hi, all! I hope that you are having an excellent time of the season. I wanted to tell you about a few important deadlines for the shop if you hope to order something in time for Christmas:


  • The absolute last day to purchase a made-to-order or custom item to have probable delivery by December 25 is December 1.
  • The absolute last day to purchase a ready-made item to have probable delivery by December 25 is December 15.
If your purchases are made after these deadlines, they will probably not arrive in time for Christmas.

If you have other time sensitive deadlines, please contact me at the shop.

Oh, hello

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It's been awhile. I discovered this past week that my lens no longer works on my camera and apparently this has jammed my creative ability to write posts. My new lens is on its way and should be here next week. In the meantime, you will have to enjoy a few cell phone Instagram posts in the meantime. 


I can't wait to do a full post on this gem! The top is covered in chalkboard paint and I spray painted the bottoms of the legs in Looking Glass by Krylon. Just a few more things left to do and the. I will do the full review. 

Is anyone else excited that daffodils are in the stores? They're just so cheery in my opinion...I just had to show off my newest embroidery hoop with them. The fabric is a remnant from Maramiki's shop on Etsy and then I embroidered the word love on it. I love the texture of the piece. 

Speaking of love, Happy Valentine's Day to those who celebrate it. To those who don't, bah humbug. I encourage everyone to show each other love every day of the year, not just on this random day that was picked. 

A couple of my lady friends and I are getting together tomorrow afternoon for crafty time. I look forward to showing you what we work on. My friend has a new kitty named Ruby and a vintage sewing machine to setup. 

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

weekends with tater

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Christmas wasn't on a weekend this year, but a day off in the middle of the week feels like a weekend, right? Here is Tater, wishing you a Merry Christmas while she wears the sweater that my mom sent.


christmas tree, oh christmas tree

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I haven't found a tree topper that I've liked, so a burlap bow it is!
When Rich came over and saw my tree, he said that I should take some better photos of it and post them. He really likes the rustic feel to it and I do too. What do you think?










Advent calendar exchange

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I participated in Danni's advent calendar exchange at Oh, Hello Friend. This one just covered the 12 days of Christmas. I shipped my calendar this week and I look forward to receiving mine from my partner!

Anthropologie love

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Oh my goodness, you guys! Just when I thought I couldn't love Anthropologie anymore, I can. They've been hosting this  #wantwishanthro giveaway on Instagram. Look at all these cute cute things they have been having sales on and giving away this month. The cub measuring cups tipped the scales in cuteness today and I just had to share this all with you. 

Please note that I am not compensated in anyway by posting about this giveaway and sale. I just wanted to share my love of it to all of you. 

post swap: make a scarf!

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Today I wrote a DIY for this lovely scarf at Yonder! Julie and I have collaborated together to show you all a couple of DIY Christmas gift ideas. Check it out here.


DIY post swap: knitted pillow

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I am so happy to collaborate with Julie from Restless Hearts Yonder on a couple DIY posts. Julie and I have admired each other's crafts from time to time. I remember being especially blown away by them last year as she made Christmas gifts for people. She admired mine too and this year we decided that we would collaborate on DIY gifts. I wrote a DIY on her blog for a hand-stamped scarf and she wrote one for a knitted pillow (below). Keep reading to learn how to make your own knitted pillow. 


So one of the things I know a lot of us do around the holidays is look for inspiration.  I will spend a considerable amount of time on pinterest throughout the year, looking for "diy" project ideas.  This year, I've take some of those ideas and turned them into actual projects that I will be giving as gifts.  It's saving me money and getting me to be creative at the same time.  This project was inspired by a lot of the knitted pillow covers I've seen out there.  I knew I could make one for myself, because essentially all this is is a scarf folded over and sewn up the sides.  I bought a nice chunky yarn in an oatmeal color and really love how this turned out.  Give it a shot...I know you'll love this too!

There are two parts to this project: knitting and sewing.  For the knitting portion, you can use whatever pattern you like...I, for one, am not a super experienced knitter so the ribs were complex enough for me.  If you look closely, you will see that I messed up more than one time (talking and knitting at the same time!) but it's not noticeable enough for me to want to rip it all out and start over!  You can use all purl stitches, you can use all knit stitches.  If you know how to cable stitch, be my guest (I have not mastered that one yet).  My thinking was that I wanted this pillow to be simple, but I wanted the texture to have some visual interest (hence the ribs).  The sky is the limit, think of whatever you'd like!  You could also do a pattern including other colors or a design of your own!

Here's what you'll need:
-knitting needles (I used a size 10, but probably could have used bigger ones)
-yarn of your choice (I used this kind)
-cotton fabric big enough to make a pillow insert out of 
-polyfill or your choice of pillow filling
-a sewing machine or needle and thread
--a tapestry or plastic yarn needle with a large eye

For the knitting:
Cast on 40 stitches and straight stitch one row.  From then on this will be your pattern: knit 5 stitches, purl 5 stitches.  This will create the ribbing pattern.  Stitch this for as long as you'd like (I had a specific size pillow in mind when I started), just remember that your piece will be folded over length wise to create the pillow cover so make it pretty long.  In the end, mine measured 29 inches long.


After you're done knitting you will cast off and end up with a scarf looking piece.  Set it aside and grab your fabric for the pillow insert.  I made a pillow insert because putting batting into something that was knitted sounded like a mess.  Take your knitted piece and stretch it as far across as it will stretch and measure it.  Then measure the length.  Take those measurements and make a square with your fabric, just as you would for a pillow.  Sew around all the sides leaving a small hole to fill it with batting.  


After you've filled your pillow, sew it shut.  Then take your knitted piece and pin up one side.  Put the pillow into the knitted piece--it's going to be really fluffy and might seem like your knitted piece won't be able to fit around it, but it will!  Pin the pillow around all sides so that the pillow fits inside.


Thread a large eyed needle with a long piece of yarn.  You're going to sew up the sides with a simple running stitch.  Leave a tail at the end of your first stitch and tuck it underneath your stitches.  Do this around the edge of your pillow.  I found it easiest to do this while standing so that I could get the proper amount of tautness around the edge.  Make sure that if you do the ribbing, your ribs match up when you're doing this--it's just like matching stripes or plaids!  


When you're done just tie a simple knot and tuck the rest of the yarn inside the pillow.  There you have it!!



I hope you enjoy making a pillow for someone this holiday season!  I'm still debating whether or not I should give this as a gift or keep it for myself!!  Happy crafting!! 





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second annual ornament exchange

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Hey folks! I would love to offer to organize the second annual ornament exchange. I hope that you can join us!

Since living on my own the past few years, I have been slowly amassing home decor items. One of the items I sorely lacked was during Christmas--ornaments. This was even more apparent to me two years ago when I only had enough ornaments to decorate the front half of the Christmas tree. I have a few more this year than I did last year but still not enough to fill a whole tree. I thought maybe there would be others like me out there who have been slowly growing their ornament collection.  Hence, the Second Annual Ornament Exchange. (Bare with me while I use the graphics from last year…not much extra time equals no new graphics!)


Partners:: I will pair each participant with one other person.

Cost:: It's free to participate but the ornament you send to your partner must have a minimum value of $5. If you go above and beyond the $5 worth, that is up to you and your partner. Also, if you make or sell ornaments and would like to send one of your own products to your partner that is fine AS LONG AS your product fits your partner's interests (more info about that below).

Shipping:: This gift exchange is open to international participants. I understand that some of you will be interested in items from other countries and some of you would prefer not to pay that much extra for shipping. Please be sure to specify in your comment below if you are willing to be paired with a person from a different country or not.

Schedule:: Sign-ups open today, Monday, November 25th. Sign-ups will close Monday, December 2nd. Partners will be announced Tuesday, December 3rd. Packages must be shipped no later than Tuesday, December 11th so we all have the ornament in time to admire on our tree.

Share + Admire:: If you'd like to share photos of the ornament/package you are sending or receiving feel free to post them on Instagram with the hash tag #ornamentexchange2013. Also, you can share them on your blog and either link back to this blog, comment below with the link, or email me about it. I look forward to sharing some exchanged ornaments when this has finished.


Getting what you want:: The questionnaire includes a section for you to fill out to help your partner pick out or make an ornament that is sure to be something you'll like. So answer the questions thoroughly!

The sign-up:: If you wish to participate in this ornament exchange please fill out the questionnaire below. Please copy and paste the questions into a comment at the end this post or email them to me at jean (dot) emily (at) gmail (dot) com. Submitting the questionnaire is your commitment to follow the guidelines as they have been explained above.

::QUESTIONNAIRE::

Name: 

Email Address: 

Country in which you live: (as well as if you are willing to have an international partner or not)

Your interests in ornament type: (share some of your preferences to help your partner choose or make an ornament for you - i.e. colors, styles, specific item(s) you would like inside of the ornament, texture, a link or two to other ornaments you are interested in, etc.)

5 words to describe you or your style: 

Link to your blog/shop if you have one:

Anything else you'd like to ask/share:


Help spread the word about the Second Annual Ornament Exchange by posting a button to your blog, sharing on Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest and any other social media site you use. 

Best wishes and I cannot wait to see what we send each other!

November...already?

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I began setting up for Thanksgiving. It's not really something I've setup for previously...I usually run from Halloween right into Autumn and then Christmas. This year, it's different and I can't quite put my finger on it. But I like it. 
Last weekend I went to a Halloween party. I combined 4 different witch costumes for my final look. Rich was a mismosh of 8 year old mask, sailor hat, and Joker costume. We made quite the pair...so much laughter while we put these costumes together. 

I've spent the rest of the week working, relaxing and trying to organize for the next couple of months. I'm looking forward to showing you all some new fabulous things for the shop as well as a couple other ideas. 

more halloween display

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 Rich's parents have quite a collection of Halloween decor. One weekend when I was over, I took a few shots to share with you all. Aren't these neat scenes?


What do you have up for Halloween/fall?

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