Are you following me???

Isn't this such a cute picture? I took it about 5 years ago as my daughter Isabella walked down to the beach hand in hand with her daddy. I like how she's looking back almost to say "Hey, are you following me?"

Which brings me to ask the same question...are you following me? A few weeks ago I mentioned giving away my extra sandwich wrap that I made when I hit 200 followers. I'm just reminding you that that offer is still on!


Isn't this Amy Butler Love print to die for?! So what are you waiting for? Come follow me!

Oh, and if we hit 250 followers, the next giveaway is one of my driftwood sailboats. All you have to do, is click on follow, and one winner will be randomly chosen.

So come follow me!!!

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Recovering

I just wanted to let all of my loyal followers know that I haven't forgotten you. I had surgery on Monday and have been in a drug induced haze for the past week. Not much crafting has been getting done! I am hoping to be up and running again next week.

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Garage sale find Friday 5

It was another slow but successful garage sale weekend here in the Pacific Northwest. Since it's a craft blog I won't tell you about the prestine American Girl doll I got for $8 (!!!!), but I will tell you about these lovely gems that I picked up to go around the house.

This beautiful lamp for a mere $2. Isn't it great in my front window?
And this cool old tool box for only 50 cents and this antique glass jug for only $1
I got these two ball jars for $1, and think they make a great match for my wreath stand that I bought last year at a garage sale for $1.
Not a shabby weekend haul for only $4.50! Did you find anything fun this weekend?

Linking up at this great site

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The Macgyver dress

Most days my husband comes home and asks me what I did that day. He doesn't say it like "man, look at this place...what DID you do all day?" way, he does it in more of a "I know the things you do around the house can go overlooked, so I want to make sure I appreciate what you did do" way. So while I was going down the list (three loads of laundry, swept the floors...), I also mentioned that I made a dress out of a pillowcase and an old tank top. After I said it, it sort of sounded like something Macgyver would have said if he were crafty! Don't you think?

Anyway, I started out with a Ralph Lauren pillowcase that was in the free box at a garage sale, and a Hollister tank top, I picked up for 50 cents.
I didn't take step by step pictures for a tutorial this time. So sorry! If you sew though, it's pretty easy to figure it out. I used the pillowcases natural opening as the hem and cut the bottom off of the shirt and the pillowcase. I even made a belt from what I had leftover from the pillowcase. After I sewed the two pieces together, I used elastic thread in my bobbin and did four rows of shirring at the waist.


I think it turned out really cute...my husband does not. What do you think?


I'm linking up to a few of these parties

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Garage sale find Friday 4

It was a crazy weekend, so I am a bit delayed on my Garage sale find Friday post, but better late than never, right?! I hit the jackpot on vintage linens on Friday at a garage sale. And at 10 cents a piece, I did my best to just pick up the ones in the best shape and then think about what I was going to do with them later.

Two vintage tea towels.
An embroidered pillowcase
This funky coordinating fabrics that probably used to be napkins
And this round tablecloth that has hand embroidered flowers.
And check out this gem. I got 5 old burlap potato sacks for $2. Not sure what I am going to do with them yet (maybe use it as wall art?), but I thought they were pretty cool. Did you find anything fun?

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A blog award!

Jan over at The Simpler Life gave me this award!

I'm extremely flattered that someone sees my little blog as an inspiration. I hope I can keep inspiring! Thanks for the award! I appreciate it Jan!

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Reusable Sandwich Wrap with Matching Baggie and GIVEAWAY!!!

Remember this book that I talked about last week? Well, I finally got the chance to dig in and make something in it.

There were several projects that caught my eye. I'm looking forward to finding more cashmere sweaters at garage sales this summer to piece together and make a patchwork blanket. In the meantime, I needed to make my daughter a new sandwich wrap.

I bought one for Isabella a few years ago, and it finally bit the dust. I'm quite sure that a handful of aluminum trees were saved because she used her wrap n mat ! Her mat held up quite well over the past few school years, and if you are looking to buy one (as opposed to trying to make one), I would highly recommend getting one (I get nothing from giving them a plug, just so you know!). I could make one, and I found a killer fabric (the main reason!), so I thought I would try my hand at it.

Here's the link to Betz White's reusable sandwich wrap tutorial (sort of) . If you want the actual pattern, buy the book!

The directions in the book were so easy to follow. And while I didn't use PUL like suggested, I picked up Amy Butler's Love oilcloth fabric (why wouldn't I fall in love with the fabric that cost $19.99 a yard!!!) and used iron on vinyl to make the whole thing waterproof instead. The 1/3 yard of fabric made two sandwich wraps, and a baggie (directions not included in the book, just a pattern I threw together on my own). There is even enough left over to possibly make an actual lunch bag. Or, I may make more baggies...stay tuned.


In the meantime, my follower count is creeping up and I have decided that when I hit 200 followers (seriously, stalkers, follow me!) I would give away the extra sandwich wrap that I whipped up this week. So, hit follow on that sidebar, and keep your eyes peeled for that announcement when we hit 200 and I "draw" that lucky number out of my computer generated hat!

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Free box makeover

Remember this little beauty? I picked it up in the free box on Friday. I saw it and knew immediately what I was going to do with it.

The hubby took the front cover off of it, bagged up all the inside goodies and tossed those for me. Isn't he super?!
Then I cleaned it out and painted it white.
I printed up some numbers in various fonts and sizes and then cut them out (yep, painful!) and mod podged them to each little "cubby".
Isn't it cool?
Then I pulled out some of my shells from my collection and put them inside. I really like it and the best part...IT WAS FREE!!!


I'm linking up to some of these parties!

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I love rock N roll

I love music. All different kinds of music. My ipod has some crazy mixes on it...and probably things you wouldn't expect from a fairly conservative mom of three. I like to have music playing whenever I can, which is why I love these two blogs so much. They have THE best music! I must confess, quite often during my day, I will go to their blog and just enjoy the music I hear from them.



I actually found The Fickle Pickle from a feature on The Creative Crate. Isn't this board amazing? I love it!



And this custom tutu! How stinkin' cute!!!

Stacie has such a fun blog . I love all of her features. She also has some crazy cool rings that she's made.

And she also has some great projects like this calendar.

Now go off, visit these wonderful blogs...and enjoy the music!

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Garage sale find Friday

Thanks for joining me for another garage sale find Friday! I'm so excited for my finds today and can't wait to share them with you!

First off, I found this lovely gem in the free box. I think it's the find I am most excited about today! Isn't it lovely? I mean really, who can go wrong with vintage beans, and noodles. I can't wait to take it apart and dig in to that culinary goodness! Only kidding....about the eating part, not the taking apart part. I am excited to take it apart and make it into something fabulous, and for FREE, you can't go wrong!

I also found this little birdie for $1.50. She's part of a set and I love that she's already roughed up a bit. You can also check out my vintage binoculars, not a find from today, but something I picked up a few years ago.

Who doesn't need vintage buttons? I got all three baggies for $1. And really, you always need buttons, especially if you sew, which I do!

Check out this cool old gas station flag. It was only $1 because it's not in the best shape, but sometimes vintage goodness looks cooler with a little wear and tear. I'm hoping in our next house to have a bonus room that I can decorate with lots of vintage finds and this is one of the first things I would put in there.

For real?! An autentic roughed up bowling pin! And for free ninety nine (thanks Suz!). Another lovely thing to add to my built in bookcases in the bonus room that I dream about.

And speaking of vintage finds, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this old fire glass bell thing (what would you call it?). Again, something I hope to be putting on the wall in my new bonus room. Don't you just love decorating for a house you don't have?! I do!

Not a bad haul today for $8! Can't wait to see what I can find tomorrow!

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Sewing Green

I'm cheap. Really cheap. The one huge set back to my years of boycotting sewing is that the fabric to make what I wanted, cost so much more than actually buying it at the store. Our yearly clothing budget for our family of five is $800 (yep, total!). It's not so much a budget per se, as it is the reality of what we spend on clothing, shoes, and accessories. Now don't get me wrong, I like shopping. I like looking like I know what is in fashion but for a fraction of the price. I wear my Ugg boots ($3 at a garage sale) and my Citizens of Humanity jeans (also $3) with my Nordstrom shirts (I don't like to pay more than a few dollars for any clothing item), and my kids dress in abercrombie and Gap, but really, I feel so much better when I spend 25 cents for a shirt than if I spent $30 (or more!) for one. Which is why I really like the book Sewing Green by Betz White.

I am borrowing it from the library (shocker!) and have flipped through it numerous times each time getting inspired by what I see. I have recently taken to refashioning and repurposing my own creations (just peruse my blog to see some of them), and this book has given me some new ideas to run with. You can pick up your own copy here , or at your local library. But believe me, you are going to want a copy of your own. I know I do!

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How to make a driftwood sailboat

My father in law just celebrated his 60th birthday. My sister and law and I planned a little gathering to celebrate this milestone. We went with a beachy/sailboat theme since we were giving him sailing lessons for his birthday. I was in charge of decorating, and one of the things I came up with were these driftwood sailboats.

After about a half an hour of beach combing, I picked up nearly all the supplies I needed. I grabbed various sizes of driftwood and as many long skinny straight sticks as I could find. The rest of the supplies, I had on hand. I used muslin and a glue gun to piece them together.

I live in the Pacific Northwest. It's springtime...everything is wet. The driftwood was no exception. I wanted to expedite the process so I took my driftwood and sticks home put them on cookie sheets and cooked them in an oven on 250 degrees for about 2 hours.

The only real benefit from the cooking it seemed was that the bugs got cooked out. Yummo! Other than that, it didn't seem to dry the wood out any faster. It only succeed in making my house smell like a stinky beach on a super hot day!

I then paired up the driftwood and a stick, and sweet talked my hubby into doing the hard part.

He took calipers to the wood stick, measured it and found the right size drill bit (he tried one smaller than the measurement) and drilled a hole making sure he didn't go all the way through to the bottom. You need a real tight fit so the stick fits snugly in the drilled hole.

Don't you just love man hands doing all the work?!

I must apologize at this point for not having any pictures of the process of making the sails. Each driftwood piece is different, so I just measured how high up I wanted the sail and then how far out I wanted it on each side and cut at an angle on both pieces (you will end up with two triangles). I nearly failed geometry so you probably shouldn't trust me when I say it was a right triangle. Honestly, I have no idea what kind of triangle it is! I tried to always make one triangle just a bit smaller than the other.

Then I put a string of hot glue down each side of the mast (on the straight part of the sail) and secured the muslin to each side. At the bottom of the sail, I put a smaller stick that expanded almost the whole width and then rolled and glued the bottom part of the sail onto that making sure I used a fair amount of glue to attach both sticks in the center where they met.

I like how casual and beachy they are.

I also thought I would show you a few other details of the day. Isn't this cake amazing?! It had so many fun details from the handmade candy life preservers, to the various nautical flags. Wish I could take credit for making it, but I can't. My sister in law has a friend who makes these. Let me know if you are in the Seattle area and want her information.

This is pretty much how my four year old was for at least half of the party! He couldn't hardly wait until we cut into the cake.

I also decorated with lots of raffia, bottles filled with sand, and shells.

The bottle pictured on the right was his present. A scroll with the details of his sailing lessons rolled up inside like a message. I mod podged the birthday message on the outside of the bottle and even burnt the edges (seriously still amazed that I didn't light my house on fire this week!).

The banner was made with die cuts and scrapbook paper that was sand and shells.

Hope planning your next birthday party is smooth sailing!

I will be linking up to these parties

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