Happy Birthday to Me

This past Saturday, March 10th was my 107th birthday.  At least, that's how old I feel.
My sweet family helped me celebrate.

My giant son (who's playing baseball in middle school!! I'm so proud of him!!)

Here are pics of my loot.

My hubby bought me some tulips - which are 1 of my 2 favorite flowers.  I put them in a low vase that would let them droop.  My hubby hates that.  So he tied them up with some ribbon from my presents.  Now they look like they're in bondage. :)

My cake - from a local bakery Chez Bazan - it's yummy AND pretty.

Who put all those stupid candles on my cake?  I wasn't too happy about those.

Anyhoo, the weather was rainy and stormy all day but  I appreciate my family helping me to celebrate.  We saved my birthday dinner until yesterday when the weather had cleared up.  Now, we're having warm temps with some wind and sunny/overcast skies.  Time for some yard work!

On a crafting level, I've ordered some fun new fabric (my addiction is getting worse) and I've completed 3 more half aprons which I will start listing today.  I'm cutting out 4 more aprons with the fun new fabric and hope to start working on them today.  What are you crafting on today?

200

I just hit 200!!!!!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited.  My 200th customer is getting a surprise free gift :)

In other, unrelated news, my baby is still sick.
I have a ton of gifts to wrap and haven't wrapped any.
I picked up our Christmas cards (the have a pic of my son on them - we ordered through his school), but haven't addressed any of them.
I'm having to car shop, now, at Christmas time.  UG!

How is your weekend going?

October's First Monday SALE!

It's time again for Etsy Texas Crafter's October First Monday Sale!
This month, all participating shops are having BOGO sales. 

So, all day Monday, October 4th, from 12 am to 12 pm you can Buy one item in my shop and get the second item (of equal or lesser value) for 25% off!

Handmade Whimzy BOGO 25% off SALE!!

To View all off the participating shops BOGO sales, go here:  http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6644895

Christmas already!

I've listed my first Christmas apron for the upcoming holiday season. 

Christmas is only 3 months away so we need to get ready now, right?  Plus there's only 1 more week of summer so that means it's practically winter!  LOL

Here it is:

Fabrics by Moda's Twelve Days of Christmas line.  Very sweet and festive.

I have 2 more Christmas aprons cut out and fabric for several more.  YAY!

Free Shipping all day!

Free shipping to the US all day today (Labor Day) in my Handmade Whimzy shop!  Myself and other members of my Etsy Texas Crafters group are honoring Labor Day by having a Free Shipping sale in our Etsy stores.  For the complete list of shops participating, click here:  http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6620042

Plus, I've finally listed the apron I was working on last week.  YAY!

What I bought in Dallas

In my previous post, I mentioned my little family and I took a little trip to Dallas this past weekend.
One of the reasons we went was so that my boy and his dad could go to the Comicon convention in Richardson.  Well, I didn't want to go to that.  So I dropped them off and took myself off to a sweet little fabric store that I found by googling called CityCraft.

They describe themselves as a modern fabric store and sewing lounge.  That sounds like heaven.

It was a sweet little store.  They had lots of fabric from Michael Miller, Alexander Henry, Moda, Amy Butler, Robert Kaufman and more.  I usually order my fabrics online but it's so nice to be able to see it before you buy.  Of course, you pay more to see it than you do online.  But it still makes for a nice trip.

Here's what I bought.  Those will make some nice aprons, eh?

This is the apron that I'm working on right now.  I should have it done and maybe even listed by the time this post is up (I'm putting it on the timer!).

Pet Swap Gift

I want to share with you the gift that I made for Danielle of ZandDart for the Pet themed July swap in our Etsy Texas Crafters group.  When I finished it, I was so excited about it that I almost wanted to drive it to her house and give it to her.

I wanted to make a bed for her cat, Archimedes.  One of Danielle's favorite colors is blue and since Archimedes is a boy, I thought that would be a good color to use.  So, I went online and started looking up how to make pet beds.  I went through several ideas on how to do it and also several ideas for decorations that I wanted to attach to it.  For example, I wanted to make some of those corker bow ribbon thingys and attach bells to them, then attach them to the pet bed.  But when I found the instructions on how to make those, I found out you have to bake them.  I had no idea.  Bake them.  Huh.

Anyhoo, I didn't like any of the instructions or beds that I came across so I started thinking to myself that what I'd really like to make was a box pillow and use that minky fabric and stuff it with fiberfill so that it would be all squishy and squashy - and that's what I did!

I found instructions on how to make a box pillow here.  I didn't have Archimedes to measure so I just winged it.  I wanted the bed to be big for him so that he'd have plenty of room to squiggle around.  I ended up making it 24 x 16 inches.

The first one I made, I put buttons in for the closure.

I wanted Danielle to be able to remove/replace the fiberfill as needed and also to be able to wash the cover.  And as we all know, cats puke on everything - so it needed to be washable.  But once I got it finished, I realized that smart me had sewn the side band that goes all around the pillow, upside down.  I had even sewn the buttons on upside down.  It was really noticeable too because I used this cute cat and dog fabric.

Then, I realized that the 3 buttons I had put in wouldn't be enough because it left huge gaps on either end of the closure.  Ack! I said.  But hey, it was my very first time to make a box pillow and to use the minky fabric (which sews real well but tries to suffocate you when you cut it).

So, that was when I decided to just put in Velcro to close up the big gaps and give it to my cat.

Look, she likes it!

I then forced myself to return to Hobby Lobby (only kidding - it's my favorite store!) to get more cat/dog fabric so that I could remake the pillow.

This time, I was smart and looked up how to put in a zipper on youtube.com.  Isn't it great how you can find instructions on how to do almost anything online?  So this time I got the side band on right side up AND there are no gaps in the zipper closure.

 

The finished product turned out great.  I thought it looked very professional.  And Archimedes the cat looked happy in the pic Danielle sent me.  I learned 2 new skills - how to put in a zipper and how to make a box pillow.

The finished pillow is very lumpy and squishy looking.  That was intentional.  My cat and dog both like to wiggle/knead/squoosh and squash their beds until they get them just right.  I'm hoping Archimedes is the same.  I had some thick foam but I felt it would make the bed too ridgid and who wants that, right?

Let me know what you think!

Matchbook Notepads Tutorial

One day recently, I was reading my friend Suzanne's blog, Crazy for Collars. I noticed that she has a tutorial section which included how to make matchbook notepads.


I've just recently come to appreciate the convenience of these little pads of paper. They are small, so they don't take up much room in your purse, and they come in handy when you have to right down phone numbers really quick or your kid says, "do you have any paper I can draw on, I'm bored!" while waiting at the Dr.s office.


So, I thought, wouldn't that be cute to make and send out as a promotional gift with my packages? I decided to use some Amy Butler scrapbooking paper that I already had - it's bright and colorful. I followed Suzanne's instructions except that I didn't round the corners or use a paw print punch. Instead, I printed address size labels that I already had with the web address of my Handmade Whimzy shop and a little tag line. It would have looked better if I had used clear labels, but I already had these white ones, so I thought I'd use them up.


I attached the labels to the front of the notepad so that everytime it's used, the label will be seen and will hopefully remind the user to have a look at my shop. :)


I did make one mistake. My DH pointed it out to me. Suzanne's tutorial says to fold the bottom flap up 3/4 of an inch. Well, I thought I'd be smart and go with a whole inch (or maybe a little more). That way, my label would fit on perfectly. But as my DH pointed out, that leaves less paper exposed. So to write on more of the paper, you would have to bend the little flap back to expose the paper. Oh well, live and learn - and next time follow directions better.


Thanks so much to Suzanne for giving me permission to use her tutorial on my blog. If you haven't checked out her etsy shop, you should. She has the greatest collars for dogs. And she's having a SALE right now - through Friday!


I'm going to start a tutorial section to the right --------------> and my first one will be the link to Suzanne's matchbook notepad. I've been working on my first tutorial and will be posting it soon.

Happy Earth Day!

Today is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.

I've decided to have a sale to celebrate. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than by shopping? LOL

So I'm having 15% off all items at Handmade Whimzy. Sale goes until midnight on Sunday, April 25th.

It's Green in Texas by Gemuine Creations

Steph of GemuineCreations has been busy again! She is on fire with treasuries!

Her latest uses shades of green and features all members of Etsy Texas Crafters. Thanks so much for featuring my Funky Dots apron.

Please check out her treasury and click and comment.

I'm Groovy!

Well, I always knew it but now it's official - I'm groovy! LOL

My Amy Butler French Wallpaper Yoga Mask from Handmade Whimzy has been featured at Groovy Gal Designs Online as an April Groovy Find!

Thanks so much Jo Claire!

You can also check out the Groovy Gal shop on etsy. She sells paintings, Aceo's, drawings, graphic designs and more in her etsy shop. Jo has featured some really cool stuff in her Groovy Finds so I'm excited to be in such cool company.

Upcoming Spring Show

I'll be doing the upcoming Azalea Trails Arts and Crafts show again this year in Tyler. It's always a nice show with a large crowd of people. I just wish it were indoors and that we didn't have to set up my tent. UG!

But anyhoo, I've been busy getting ready for it and haven't had time to also take pics and list new stuff in my etsy shops. So, while they are still open, there won't be any new stuff in them for awhile. After the show is over, I'll be listing like crazy.

The show will be in Bergfeld Park, which is right in the middle of town, on March 21st and 22nd. If you're in the area, come on by! It's in a beautiful area of town full of azaleas and blooming spring flowers. Very lovely!

And I'd also like to say thanks to Cordovastudios and Buyhand for featuring my eye masks and sachets in their treasuries yesterday.

From CordovaStudios - Great Takes:

And from BuyHand - Sweet Dreamzzzzzz:

Thanks for the lovely treasuries, ladies. And for picking my items!

Pretty scraps

My pile of pretty scraps.

I got 5 aprons cut out yesterday and can't wait to start sewing them up. I have an arts and crafts show coming up in March and I desparately want to have a good selection of aprons.

Here is my latest one that I'm going to list later today. I call it "Two Scoops".

Big Sale at Pink Pear Designs and One Apron listed!

Pink Pear Designs is having a big 50% off sale! I've set up a special section and I've already marked the prices down. I have earrings and necklaces on sale. These are one of a kind pieces that won't be remade. Get yourself something pretty and sparkly for 50% off!

Also, I've finally listed my first apron at Handmade Whimzy. I spent over an hour writing the description. Ugg! My fingers are crossed that they are received well. I'm really enjoying sewing and I've ordered a ton a fabric this week.

This first one is made with Amy Butler's French Wallpaper fabric in Orange from the "Belle" series. The coordinating fabric for the waist and pockets is Seeds Duck Egg also from "Belle". The ribbon ties are white grosgrain. I think it's adorable. I've been wearing the prototype apron that I finished last summer and it looks really cute on. It's really functional and washes well (and it's cute!).

Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear some feedback.