Altered Photo Album

I've had this idea for a long time but haven't done anything with it. I finally made a small one for Xander's Church Bag- and I LOVE IT!!! I filled it with pictures of family, Jesus and other church pics. Soon I'll add little 4X6 cards of letters to him or little things about him. It's great way to keep him engaged in gospel-centered activities while in church [not to mention quiet during first hour!] He really LOVES looking through the pictures of our family and points out who is in the Gospel pics. Since I'm amking a few of these, I thought I'd get a head start on Sebastian's photobook for church, I know he'll be using it before we know it!

Next is to make a few for gifts and put them in my gift box so we can be prepared for birthdays, just because and Christmas! <----I'm getting a head start on Christmas this year! and yes, you may call me neurotic ad crazy.. but making/buying the presents throughout the year spreads out the money and lets us ENJOY the holidays!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I used my Sillohette to cut out the CTR and Mod Podged the paper and symbols to the front and back. Then I picked out a few pictures of our family, pass-along cards from church, and a few cards from a picture pack I purchased from Deseret Book.

Front:

Back:

A few pages from inside:

crafty, crafty.

So i've been crafting like a mad woman [still] - gearing up for... CHRISTMAS 2011!!! Hahaha i know you all think i'm either a bit nuts or extremely brilliant. i prefer the latter.... this is my thinking on it all.. we have almost 50 gifts to give and that doesn't include the secret gifts we doorbell ditch and some other little goodies we make for friends. if you ONLY spent $10.00 a piece on each gift that's OVER $500!!!!! I can't afford that all at once and things are always so tight after Christmas that it [almost] makes me regret some of my purchases. So this year, we will be better than last! We can spread out $500 throughout the year so.....My hubby has already purchased a few gifts for people and i've already made stuff. also with birthdays, special occasions, babies born etc throughout the year we thought it would be prudent to be prepared.

Since i've been making things this year i've really slacked off on taking pics.. sooooo i'll go ahead and take a mass amount of pics and post them very soon!

Things I'm working on:
baby quilt
crocheted handbags and accessories
church/activity bag for our sons
a few dresses for me
hats to match
a skirt for my BFF
oh, and some play food and fort for the boys

am i too busy? naw! i'm also planning 2 weddings, 2 parties and just got hired as a xc coach at my alma mater. awesome.

happy crafting!

New books!

I ordered some instructional crochet books online and they came this week!! I have had my nose stuck in them and I can't wait to dive into some projects!! I started a purse but it did look like it was turning out right, so I took it out.. twice. and then a third time.. then proceeded to start another purse pattern. I'll go back and try that one later :)
I did find so many cute socks that I'd loooooove to make... too bad they are knitted. I started off knitting when I was 8 but haven't done it in years. I'm thinking that I'll pick it back up though [I have all the needle sizes so why not?] just so I can make these cool socks.

2011

Happy new year and I'm back [ok.. still] crafting! I've spent countless hours ogling over projects other bloggers have done, how nice their pages look, and how many followers they have! Thank you to my 3 [loyal] followers. Is there anything you'd like to see me make? a tutorial on anything I've done so far? Anyone who comments will be put into a drawing for something cool. what? yeah, I have no clue yet, but I'll be doing the drawing in mid-February.... so lets do this, you win.. you pick what I make and send you :)

week thirty-six

For my last hurrah...

I made another Frog hat.. I know you all have seen it before, but I made it for one of my friends that I haven't seen since I graduated High School. It was such an awesome day to go to her baby shower and catch up. I had to leave early though so I could make it for another [family] event so after we returned home, got the kids to bed my sweet hubby told me to go back and hang out... we talked [ate more of the yummy cake] until almost 4 am... ? or was it only 2 or 3? I can't seem to remember. Time flies.

See you all next year, where I'm sure I'll come up with some other crazy idea for a challenge for myself.

week 36:complete

#projects: 1

weeks to go: DONE!!!!

cumulative project count:63

week thirty-five

THE RUSH FOR CHRISTMAS!!!
Sooooo.... all of the projects that were started weeks ago.. and some this week... are FINALLY FINISHED! whew!



So here they are:




A crocheted hat with brim for one of my older sisters. She loves hats and accessories so it was kinda an easy thing more me to make with her in mind. I know I made them from Christmas colors and she wont be able to wear it for too long this year, but next year and so on, she'll already have a hat! :) I originally was making her a hand bag, and it would have totally ROCKED!! but my 2 year old son decided to abscond with the main element [of which] the whole design was hinged on... so the hat was a last ditch effort to have a present [not an IOU ] to give to my sister.




My oldest niece likes scarves but is really a picky kind of girl. I spent hours searching for a fabric that would be perfect.... I found this flowy sheer animal print and knew right away that it was the one! I made a flower clip with beads in the center to either use in her hair or to clip onto the scarf as an accent. love it!



For a cousin [on my hubby's side] who is 12 and I'm not sure I could make anything that he is really that impressed with. But thought that a hat would be a nice warm fuzzy gift :) I made it out our fleece and added a little bit of detail to [an otherwise] boring hat.




My cousin [who I don't see very often] loves skulls and crossbones and motorcycle stuff. I saw this fleece and knew it was for him. I made him a beanie that would be warm :) his mom tried to steal it from him, as did almost everyone else at the party. I think it was a hit!



A fluffy, warm scarf for my aunt who lives in London. I have to admit though, I did not make this scarf. My hubby did!!! what a man! I was so stressed [and trying to "enjoy" the holidays] and he offered to help in any way he possibly could. Normally I asked him to play with the kids.. [a real chore, right? esp since he loves to play with them] Then I asked him to make a few things, this being one of them. I would have asked him to help with more things [making that is..] but I seem to be such a control freak when it comes to handmade gifts that I couldn't [or really didn't want to] find things for him to help with. Yeah, looks like I just gotta let go sometimes!





This small neck cowl is for one of my hubby's cousins. She live in Utah, bbrrrr, so instead of a scarf, I thought a cowl would be very appropriate and lovely. I almost kept it for myself!!


Now for the project [of which I am supremely excited about and just love love love!] I made this for my hubby's cousin's wife.. I wanted to make something classy for her and I don't know her very well [even though I helped hubby's cousin "get the girl" ] and this is what I came up with. I used left over satin [from my Christmas dress, which is going to end up a valentines day dress or mother's day or Easter..... sad, i know but somethings just get pushed of..ya know?!] and I hand painted the bird on in white, hand-sewed the glass seed beads and added my Hey Sharky! label on the bottom back corner. I hope she loves it [half] as much as I do!
{*update- she didn't show up at Christmas too bad. :( so this is her present for next year if she shows up, if not it's going to her mom-in-law !}

Last, but certainly not least.... A dress for my cousin's kid. I thought I took some other pics of this dress right after I made it, but can't seem to find them. So [for now] this is what ya git. He doesn't know the first thing about girly stuff, so I made this cute dress, with a girly skull and crossbones in the bottom corner. He loved it and I'm sure she did too :)







I made a few more gifts, a scrapbooked DVD case set with 1,000s of photos on cd for my sister in law....a BBQ set for the father in law, apron and all ......and a few more things that in the rush of things I thought I took pictures, but apparently did not. Or I just lost them.. or.. or.. or..

What an exhausting week this has been. But also so rewarding! I'm glad to be done with the sweatshop, but sad that Christmas is over and I didn't celebrate it as I really wanted to. This year was better than last, and next will surely be better as well. {esp since I am already starting on projects to put in the gift bin for next year!! Call me crazy but I love making our gifts {its not really about saving money because most of the time I don't.. it's about the from the heart touch that a homemade gift brings}



Happy crafting! And see YOU next year!

week 35: complete
# projects: 11
weeks to go: 1
cumulative project count: 62

week thirty-four

Sweater- turned-hat

So with Christmas knocking on my door, and projects STILL not finished..... I needed soemthing for our niece. She is a true girlie girl and I wanted to make her a cute [soft] beenie with a brim. I cut up one of my sweaters that i have only worn a few times.. and turned it into a hat. I am very pleased with the result.

I really thought I made more than just this hat, maybe they were all just IN THE WORKS and not really done.. time to CRAM for the next weeks!!!!

week 34: complete

# of projects: 1

weeks to go: 2

cumulative project count: 52