Finally, I have a minute to sit down and show you what I did with my finished flower.
But first, a little background story.
I'm not a purse person. I'm a shoe person. I could spend all day buying shoes and would love to have a million pair. But purses - nah. I'm a once a year purse shopper and that's just because I have to replace them when they start to get all crummy looking. So a few weeks ago, I happened into Kohl's to look at the purses - which were all on sale :) My last years purse was pretty crummy looking and had been for a couple of months.
I bought a new purse and a really cool wallet (on clearance) but the problem was the new wallet didn't have a pouch for change. No problem, I thought. I'll just have a look on etsy and buy a cute little change purse.
As I was looking, I thought to myself, "boy, what a great way to use up scrap fabric and you could embelish them in all kinds of cool ways." Then I thought, "Duh". And that's when I ordered purse frames.
Here is my first change purse:
I have all kinds of embellishment ideas and once I get my pattern perfected, I plan to start offering them in my shop.
Now you know what I did with that sweet flower :)
While browsing through my local craft store, I often come across cool gadgets that my fingers just itch to buy and try. Sometimes I know what the gadgets are for and sometimes, I have NO clue. Many times I'm in the scrapbooking section when this impulse overtakes me. I don't have a clue what most of that stuff is for. I understand paper but what the heck do you do with all that other stuff. That's why scrapbooking is too complicated for me.
So, one of the gadgets that I've been wanting to try for quite some time, is a yoyo maker. You can get them in all sizes and they look pretty neat. I know you can find the tutorials on how to make them all over the internet and so I already knew how to make them and I have been meaning to make some for ever and without the use of a special $4 tool. The tutorials on the web just show you how to do them freehand.
But there was that yoyo maker.
And I had a 40% off coupon and nothing else that I needed........ so............there it was, looking all neat and..........
Ok, I bought it and brought it home. I'm a sucker for an impulse buy.
I used it for the first time this morning. Let me just say that for some reason, I thought the yoyo would be the same size as the green yoyo maker in the package but it wasn't. I had bought the small size and it was only a little over 1 inch after it was finished. I should have read the package better because I wanted one a bit bigger.
But anyhoo, it came out well. Sadly, it took me about 3 tries to be able to follow the instructions correctly. I can't blame that on the instructions so I guess it was all me.
Here's my first little yoyo:
Here you can see that I've sewn a felt flower with orange and turquoise petals together to match the yoyo.
And I've turned it into a pretty flower.
Now what will I do with the flower? Check back in tomorrow as I show what I did with it - my finished product.
When the new year started I promised myself that I wasn't going to get into any new crafting areas but look what I've gone and done now. And it's only February. My resolutions don't seem to last very long. :(
This past weekend, my son who I love dearly, was kind enough to share his germs with me. At least, I think that's where they came from. But now adays, who knows?
So, I've been mostly laying around for the past 2 days and feeling yucky.
Hopefully, the worst part is over and I AM feeling better today. So back to business as usual.
It's a beautiful 'spring' day here in Texas today which makes me feel more energetic. And I'm loving the warmer temps and sunshine that we've been having lately. Maybe old Punxsatawny Phil was right and we will have an early spring.
I hope your day is bright and sunny too. :)
I have 2 funky new aprons for my etsy shop. I've listed the "what came first" apron already and will probably list the Hootie Owl apron tomorrow.
Very cute!
What do you think about them?
Also, I finally got a much anticipated package in the mail yesterday. It's for a new craft project that I'm going to try out. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. If it turns out well, I'll be listing them in my shop. (This is in spite of the fact that I promised myself I wouldn't do any new crafts or buy any new supplies for awhile. I just don't think I'm capable of not buying crafting supplies.)
A couple of weeks ago, I was reading one of the blogs that I follow ( I can't remember which one and I can't find the post but I think it was a fellow etsymom), and I came across this yummy sounding recipe for Oreo Balls.
I immediately went to the store and got the stuff I needed and proceeded to make only 1/2 of a batch. I didn't want to make the whole batch in case we didn't like them. But boy, that sure wasn't something that I needed to worry about.
My son LOVED them.
Here is the recipe:
Oreo Balls
1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese
1 package of oreos
chocolate chips for melting
Instructions:
Pulverize the entire bag of Oreos in your food processor. Dump in the whole 8 oz. of cream cheese. Pulverize some more until it's all blended together and lumps up. Roll mixture into small balls about 1 inch or so in diameter. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour until they are good and chilled. Melt chocolate chips in microwave - don't forget to add in shortening so they will melt well for dipping. Dip oreo balls in chocolate until covered then put on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Refrigerate again until chocolate sets.
Decorate with melted white chocolate or icing in a tube that's available in stores.
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I used fat free cream cheese and reduced fat oreos and it was still decadent and yummy! These are so rich that I couldn't eat more than 1 or 2 at a time. They're a great quick and easy treat. So good in fact, that I actually made them 2 weeks in a row.
If the etsymom whose blog I saw this on is reading this now, please feel free to leave a comment and take credit for your yuuuuummmmmyyyy oreo balls. This will definitely be something that I make again. It's also a great recipe to make if you have sweet little helpers because they could help you roll the balls and decorate.
Egads, I can't believe it's been over a week since I blogged.
Last week was one of those weeks where you're really busy and the week goes by really fast but then, when it's over, you have no idea what you did. Whatever I did, I was only able to finish and list one new apron in my shop.
But this week will be better, surely. After all, it started off with a day for love.
Here are some pretty flowers that I got from my sweet baboo.
After years of me saying that red roses are generic, he finally listened to me and bought me pink tulips. He's a sweetie.
Happy Valentine's Day to all!
Last night on the national evening news, Diane Sawyer told me that the temperature is colder in Texas right now than in Alaska.
Great.
This morning, I got up at 6:30 am to check the school closings and discovered that it was officially a SNOWDAY!
It's a dry, powdery snow though, so I don't think there will be many snowmen on our street. It's suppose to get up into the 40's-50's tomorrow and all of it should melt away fairly quickly.
It's been nice staying in all day today. I was very thankful that I didn't have to drive my son to school in this aweful weather.
So far I have finished 2 aprons and some bookmarks and taken lots of pics. My son parked himself on the sofa early this morning to watch TV and play his DS.
It's been a pretty good day. :)
This is a pic of my snow covered gazing ball. It looks kinda funny.
The EtsyMom's Team is having a Valentine's Day Treasure Hunt.
For all the info, click here.
My shop is not participating but alot of really great shops are. All you have to do is look for the Valentine symbol in each shop, make a list of the item URL's and email them to the email address given. You then have a change to win 1 of 3 great prizes.
So, nothing to loose and you may win a prize - plus you'll find lots of great EtsyMom shops that you might not have known about before.
Have fun!!
And for those who might not have heard yet, Punxsatawney Phil did NOT see his shadow, so that means it's SPRING! YAY!
Why is it still only 20 degrees outside then?
I have the most fun day planned.
First, it's 27 degrees outside right now and snowing in some areas.
(I hate cold weather)
But that will only make my day better because in a couple of hours, I have to go to the dentist to get my tooth drilled out and be fitted for a crown.
So, I guess it's like I'm a queen for the day, right?
Sigh.
On a lighter note, in regards to my funky peasant blouse project that I mentioned in the last post, I have all the pieces cut out and I hope to start stitching them today or tomorrow. I'm going to try to keep you all updated with pics.
