Happy Halloween!

Hmmm...when I logged into Blogger to create this post, I realize it's my 250th post! Yikes! That happened fast!

Last night I started knitting a pair of fingerless mittens. The cooler weather always seems to make me want to knit warm things. The yarn is verigated, so I know both mitts will be different, I'm ok with that.



Happy Halloween!

My New Car

First up, thanks to everyone who offered their opinions/suggestions for my new car purchase. I took each and every one into consideration.

I have spent the past 4 days at car dealerships, test-driving cars and negotiating deals.

I finally settled on a 2007 Hyundai Accent Hatchback. It has only 7,000 km on it and I love it!



I get it on Friday and I can't wait to drive it this weekend!

I'm just glad the process is over. Buying a new car is not fun for me. Now I might actually be able to spend some time in my sewing room. I haven't even opened the door in there in days!

Fabric Christmas Ornaments

I had some extra Gocco printed trees on fabric and I instantly knew what to do with them. Make Christmas ornaments!



They were simple and fun to make, I'm sure I'll be making more once I get some more Christmas fabric.

The other thing that's been happening is my car is dying a slow death. It's a 1997 Cavaliere and it owes me nothing. I'm just really bummed because I LOVE that car! Other than regular maintenance, I've never had to do anything to it! I would drive it forever if it would let me. I do NOT want to get into car payments again and I don't want to go through the stress of selecting a new vehicle for purchase, but it's time.

If you have any recommendations for me for an economical small car, I'm all ears!

Gocco fabric printing

So I think I rescued the crappy Christmas cards by making them into gift tags that I actually quite like.



But I still had dreams of using the tree image combined with fabric somehow for Christmas cards.

I have the fabric ink for the Gocco printer and the stamp adapter to make fabric printing possible so it was time to give the new toys a whirl. I bought some inexpensive Christmas fabric at Walmart and dragged out the Gocco supplies.



I loved printing on fabric! The experience was very different from printing on paper. The fabric sucked up the ink quite quickly and the master had to be re-inked quite frequently, but I am thrilled with the way it turned out.

So once I printed up a bunch of trees I cut them into squares and then stitched them onto the note cards.





As completely embarassed as I was about the original UGLY design, I ended up with something I'm happy with and I'm glad I tried the new printing technique. I'm sure there will be MUCH MORE printed fabric in my near future!

Last Minute Gift Countdown!

I've been invited to participate in a very exciting blogging event, the Last Minute Gift Countdown.



The event takes place from November 5th - 17th. Each day a very talented blogger (how did I get invited??) will be posting a tutorial on her blog (as well as the official blog for the Gift Countdown) for a quick and easy Christmas gift project.

I will be posting my tutorial (which I am frantically trying to write) on November 16th. I highly recommend bookmarking the main page to see all the great tutorials offered!

Some days you just have to admit defeat

Well, with Joe gone geocaching for the day I had every intent to spend a quiet day being crafty.

I had an idea for more Gocco Christmas cards that I thought would be amazing. Ummm...it sure wasn't. I spent a good chunk of my day yesterday drawing the tree (yes, it took me almost an entire day to draw THAT!) and finally had a tree I liked.

I thought it would be fun to combine stitching fabric and Gocco on the same card, and I'm sure with a different design it would be a great idea, but NOT with this one!!!



I'm embarassed by it. In fact, I can't even believe I'm blogging about it.

Anyways, after a LONG consultation with my very crafty Mother over the phone analyzing the card, she suggested turning it into a gift tag. I completely agreed with her that there was NO other way to save this mess.

So....here's the first version of the tree gift tag.






I do not like the button, it's "out". It still needs something, but it's far far better than the card/fabric version!

So that's the extent of the crafting I got done today, and quite honestly, I don't even want to go back into my sewing room until I get over the tree disaster.

So, what did I do for the rest of the day?? Cooked and baked of course. It's a beautiful fall day, nice and cool and after being sick this week I felt like doing some cooking and baking.

I made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins (with nuts, of course), an apple pie, a quiche and beef enchilladas (not photographed). Joe better be hungry when he gets home from hiking!

The muffins...



The quiche and if you look very carefully, the pie is in the top of the photo. The picture of the pie alone didn't turn out.



I'm off to take some muffins to the neighbour's. I hope you're all having a better weekend than I am crafty-wise!

New Tote

Today is day 3 of a migraine. Days 1 & 2 weren't too bad and I was able to work through them. Today was a different story.

I cut out three totes this morning before I realized just how bad my head was. I called in sick to work and slept the majority of the day.

When I woke up I was feeling slightly better and decided a little sewing therapy might be what I need to feel better.



The fabric is a recycled pillowcase that I bought at Value Village. I had intended to use it for lining, but I decided I liked it enough to use on it's own.

I think the migraine is gone now. I'll just have to be careful for the next day or so just in case it returns.

MORE Gocco cards and a winner!

I can't stop Gocco-ing.

I wanted to make some thank-you cards and here they are in all their loveliness.



I really like the cards printed on the pink cardstock but then I got to thinking...a little colour would be nice, so I printed a bunch up on watercolour paper and went to Michael's, bought some watercolour pencils (I "forgot" my coupon so they let me sign for the discount) and this is what I came up with.



I can't stress enough that I'm NOT an artist, AT ALL!! But the watercolour pencils were so easy and so much fun to use! They are my new favourite crafty item!



Now for the important part of this post, the winner of my Etsyversary contest.

Before I announce the official result, I just want to thank everyone who commented for all the kind words about my Etsy shop. I know that I blushed a million times while reading the comments and although I'm not sure that they were all deserved, they sure made me feel good!

I used this random number generator and the winner is Christy is the lucky winner!

Congratulations Christy!

Gocco Christmas Cards

My Gocco machine has been working over-time this weekend.

I printed out my first batch of Christmas cards.

I even love the way the ink looks all globbed on the screen!





I'm even packaging these cards differently. I bought plastic boxes for them. I think they look so pretty all tied up with a bow!



Some are for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Today's my Etsyversary!

One year ago today I created my shop. I didn't actually start selling until November, but I remember well now nervous I was setting up the shop. I had NO idea what I was doing or what I was in for at that time.



I try very hard to keep my Etsy shop and my blog separate. I never want my blog to become a giant commercial for my shop and I think I do a fairly good job of doing that.

To celebrate my Etsyversary I'm doing two things:

First up, I'm having a sale in my shop. From now until midnight on Friday any purchases from my store will be shipped for FREE!! All you need to do is write "Happy Etsyversary" in the note to seller section when checking out and I will send a revised invoice through paypal. If you make a purchase, please wait until I send the updated invoice before paying!

And secondly, I'm having another give-away. You could win any item of your choice from the shop. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment telling me what your favourite item is and I'll make the draw on Monday.

I've had so much fun with my Etsy shop and I've "met" so many great people along the way. I hope it's around for another year!

Mini Wallets

I purchased a Snap Setter a while back and I haven't had a chance to use it so I decided it was time to make some more mini wallets.



I bought it because I was wasting so many snaps doing it the old way (with the tools that come with the snaps). If you are snap-impaired like I am I HIGHLY recommend the Snap Setter tool! It is amazing! The snaps are perfectly set on the very first try!

My only recommendation is to practice using it SEVERAL times (not just once) before using it to set a snap that you care about. I speak from experience, trust me! Once I got the hang of it I haven't destroyed a snap since!

Here are the mini wallets I made. There's only three, although there WAS five. Don't ask, the other two are in the garbage, but it was NOT the Snap Setter's fault, it was MINE!







If you get a chance, pop by and wish the birthday girl a happy birthday!

New book, new tote and a bit about my new camera

I hope you have realized by now that I'm very easily influenced by other people's recommendations. If someone recommends a book, a movie, a fabric, a Gocco machine, whatever, I almost always look into purchasing it it.

I had read on several blogs about the book Craft Inc. and I eventually broke down and ordered it.



I've yet to peek through it, I plan to do so tonight. I'll try to remember to post about it at a later date.

When I got home from work today I HAD to make a tote. They are so therapeutic for me to make. I had purchased a beautiful linen tablecloth at Value Village not long ago and it was just screaming "make me into a tote NOW!!!". I had to listen.





Honestly, I thought it was big enough to squeeze two totes out of, but it wasn't. I think I'll make a zippered pouch or two out of the leftover scraps.

Lastly, these photos were taken with my new camera. Can I just say I'm loving it??? There is ZERO, I mean NO shutter lag AT ALL!!!! I click the button and "poof" the photo is taken. I think the lag on my other camera was at least two seconds. Secondly, I'm loving the 10X optical zoom (the other camera only had 3X). I had hoped to do a bit of reading about it today and learn a bit more, but that didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow.

New camera and a teensy bit of sewing

I bought a new camera. A Fuji s5200. I want a Canon digital SLR eventually, but this was such a great deal I couldn't pass it up.



So far we are getting along (the camera and I). But can I just say that I have spent the better part of two days now trying to figure out which settings take the best shots?????? I've said it before and I know I'll say it again, photography is hard (for me, anyways).

I made a few more zippered change purses and a few more pendants, but honestly, I've spent more time trying to photograph them than it took me to make them!



I love long weekends, I don't want to go back to work tomorrow!

Winners, Gocco and some thrifting

Thanks for all the comments on my "give-away" post about my cards!!

I asked Joe to pick two numbers between 1 and 31 and the winners of a set of the flower Gocco cards are Atet and Miguette. Ladies, I'll be sending you an e-mail asking for your mailing addresses. Congratulations! I hope you like the cards!!

I've had lots and lots of people ask me about my Gocco. For more information look here for a little tutorial about how to use it. I think it will answer (and probably raise) lots of questions.

I've been spending a little bit of time at Value Village this week. I bought some gingham pillowcases that I plan to use for tote linings and a really pretty linen tablecloth that I'm sure will become a tote or two in the near future. These items are in the laundry at the moment, so no photos.

I did get a little bag of buttons. They were quite dirty so I gave them a little bath. Joe just asked me "What's with the button collection on the kitchen counter?". When will he learn just to accept my crafty stuff all over the house??? :)



I bought some brown fabric today that I really like (on the left) and an amazing sheet with trees on it. I suspected that the sheet wasn't 100% cotton when I was at the store but I just found the tag and indeed it's 50/50 poly/cotton. Will that be ok for some simple totes?? I always use 100% cotton and I'm just not sure. Any advice would be appreciated.



Have a great weekend everyone, and to my Canadian friends, Happy Thanksgiving!

More pendants

I'm not quite sick of making these pendants yet. I'm having a ton of fun playing with my buttons. I've learned that I don't have quite as many big buttons as I thought though, so it's getting harder to make them.

Anyways, here are the ones I made last night.



This one reminds me of an old record album.







I'm going to slowly list them in my Etsy Shop.

And I'm completely surprised at all the comments on my last post for the card give-away!! I will do the drawing tomorrow, so it's still not too late to enter!

Pie and a give-away!

Joe is totally burned out. Work is tough on him, he gets phone calls at all hours of the night and he's not been sleeping all that great. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work and bought some berries and some frozen pie crusts. (I tried making my own crust ONCE. It was such a disaster I swore I'd never ever do it again).

Anyways, I came home from work and made this:



Honestly? That doesn't really appeal to me, even though I'll eat my fair share of it. I'm more of a chocolate cake kinda gal. He will go bananas for it though. I'll be his hero for an hour or so tonight :)

I've also decided that it's time for another give-away. Simply leave a comment on this post in the next few days and I'll randomly pick a name (or two) and send the winners some of my new Gocco cards.



And lastly, I want to just let it be known that I try really hard to reply to all commenters, but sometimes I'm not able to find an e-mail address to reply to. If you've left a comment and I haven't replied it might be because I can't find your address, not because I don't want to!

Cards

I had a chance yesterday to play with the Gocco machine again. I'm falling more and more in love with it. I've certainly discovered that it takes much longer to design the original design than it does to actually print a batch of cards!



I've added a set to my Etsy Shop.



I've also been experimenting with rick rack embellished Christmas cards. Here's what I've come up with so far. These are still a work in progress, but I like them so far.



And for all those interested, the skunk scent is gone from the house, but I think Chinook may be making a trip to "the spa" at some point this week to totally rid the scent from her.