Cover Me--I'm Going In!

It's Spring Break here in Oregon, and I need to use this time to clean and purge my office/craft space. As you may remember, I taught monthly classes for four years at Stampin'Cat Studio. Before that I had an online scrapbooking store. Now, my focus will be on grad school for the next year and a half, so I need to change the focus of my workspace. I'll be doing a HUGE clean/purge/sort "Clean Sweep" kind of thing for the next few days. If you haven't heard from me by Thursday, send in someone to find me. I'll probably be buried under the Basic Grey papers. Or Bazzill. Or Echo Park. Either way, keep digging until you find me!

I Love Mornings Like This

I woke up feeling that happy giddy feeling you used to get as a child when you had a new toy and couldn't wait to get up to play with it.  It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was still super excited about sewing again. I am making a bag for J to take to a youth conference next week, using one of the most intelligent patterns I've ever found--the Mail Sack by Kathy Mack. I've loved this bag ever since I read about it on her blog. I think it's pretty awesome that you can take flat, two dimentional fabric like this:

Ginseng by Joel Dewberry. It's a home dec weight fabric, but pretty dreamy to work with. You can buy it here or here. Some of the prints are sold out, but you might be able to find it locally. We bought ours at Creative Crafts and Frames in Corvallis.

And then end up with this lovely 3-dimensional product (modeled by the eventual user):

We changed the pattern up just a bit--we added a small magnetic snap and then customized the interior pockets to accomodate a lip balm, a couple of pens, and her notebook (small specifically-sized pockets instead of two good-sized pockets.

No pens in this picture, but you can see the notebook. We also made a pocket sized for her cell phone.

It was a dreamy, easy project to sew. I completely recommend the pattern. There are lots of pictures of it on Flickr, so if you are on the fence, go check it out and then make your own! I used fusible fleece for the interfacing. The more I make bags, the more I like that instead of heavy-duty interfacing. The heavy-duty stuff never seems thick enough. The fusible fleece gives you both heft and thickness, making it perfect for bags (in my opinion). Now to make one for me!

(On a side note, I saved the bigger scraps for my person in the Super Crafty Swap because she is a quilter, and can appreciate them. I also hope she likes vintage patterns, because we culled our collection last night, and I'm throwing those into her package as well!)

Home Sweet Home! Stampin'Cat Class for March

Lots of pictures here. This is my next class at Stampin'Cat Studio in Salem, Oregon. We are doing a 4x6 minibook about our homes and what we like about them. I had such fun putting this book together! I took some pictures that were not "perfect" because I wanted to show what my home was really like. I used chipboard covers (painted with green paint, gold paint, and off-white crackle paint), some grungeboard, a charm, and papers from Basic Grey's Origins line. The class was inspired by a book done by Elise Blaha. Lots of pictures ahead! Enjoy!

Look Mom! I finished the curtains!

Our dining area used to look like this:

taken during one of our birthday celebrations--I think this was H's bday a few years ago

Now, only about 4 (5 maybe?) years after finishing the first set of green curtains, it looks like this:

The saleslady at JoAnn Fabrics was QUITE surprised when I excitedly and confidently asked for 22 yards of this luscious green fabric. It IS bright, but I love it. I mean I LOVE it! It is a heavier weight fabric, smooth, silky and a little bit shiny. Seems VERY luxurious. I knew it would be the perfect counterpoint to my favorite periwinkle purple-blue walls. I think it's pretty stunning! I knew that the color would perfectly match this vase:
I bought this vase at the Portland Saturday Market about 13 years ago while visiting my Mother. Love going shopping with my Mom! I had the glassmaker, a young kid in his early twenties, sign the bottom of it. I was quite taken with his work (and I should see if he's still around and get more of it!) I love his whole booth, and would have bought more if I could have. He was surprised that I wanted his signature. To me, his work was Art, and deserved a signature! It's definitely one of my favorite pieces.
I pulled out these four remaining panels and had a moment of panic when I realized that I didn't remember my measurements for the curtains I made so long ago. Luckily, when I originally cut out the panels for these curtains, I cut them all at once. I was so grateful for that! (and felt that I was pretty smart for doing that--it made them very easy to put together after all this time)
I love sewing, even though I don't seem to have the time to sew very often. I'm grateful my mother taught me, even though at the time I think it frustrated both of us! But sewing means that we've never had bare windows, my kids have always had shorts to wear, and when my daughter was little, she had super cute leggings and jumpers and other dresses. I've whipped up costumes for backyard plays, tote bags to corral toys and little boy gear, aprons, Halloween costumes, and Christmas presents. I'm going to be teaching all of my children to sew, if only a little bit. (I feel it's a life skill of sorts) I hope my daughter learns to love sewing. I think that it will open up worlds of creativity for her and allow her to dress in a way that expresses her individuality but still keeps her modest. I think that sewing opens doors. I also think that sewing connects us to our past--especially when it connects generations. My mother-in-law has also spent time sewing with my daughter--so this connection is on both sides of our family.
What are your connections? Have you felt that crafts connect you with your friends, your children, your in-laws, your past? Leave a comment and let me know!

Clear Stamp Storage

Storage for clear stamps can be a tricky issue. I used to have mine in binders--until I outgrew that system. I still liked the ease of sliding them in and out of page protectors, so I tried something else. I have mine on a free-standing paper towel holder. I put binder rings around the page protectors and then filled them up with clear stamps. For the smaller sets, I used the half-sized page protectors. I punched holes in my CTMH sets and put them on the binder rings also. So far, it's working out beautifully. I have all of my "cling" type stamps (some of mine are rubber as well) in one place. Which was my biggest goal. I hated rummaging through three different kinds of storage for a stamps that essentially functioned the same way.

I found a simple free-standing paper towel holder--just the long middle bar, no others--at Goodwill (it's this ethos paper towel holder --but mine is white). I put three binder rings around the holder and put page protectors onthe rings...it's similar to the idea of the 7 gypsies holder but I think mine is easier,because it can be adapted to all sizes of stamps and because I can use regular page protectors instead of specialty ones. In those page protectors, I put my clear stamps. The larger Technique Tuesday stamps go in the full size protectors--as does my Inque Boutique cd case stamps. The smaller stamps are in half-size page protectors. I put sheets of cardstock in the page protector if it was a little floppy. When I need to use a particular set, I just slide it out of the protector (once your rings are full, it can be beastly to open and close them--much easier to just slide out what you want). If I am traveling to a class with my stamps, I just put them in another page protector or a plastic bag to protect them. I've had my stamps organized this way since May, and as I've said before, it is working out beautifully!

I hope that helps some of you!

File under "S" for Stupid

Or, how NOT to blend homemade tomato soup that's been simmering/boiling for awhile. Or that you should really use the lid that came with your blender rather than just covering the top of it with a cream cheese container lid. Or that you shouldn't blend boiling hot soups on high. Thank goodness for first aid training! This would have been worse if I hadn't had any. Thank goodness I only hurt myself, thank goodness my oldest daughter was home to help me and to clean up the mess. Thank goodness it was only a 1st degree burn (well, maybe 1 and a half degrees, if there is such thing).

I'm going to buy an Immersion blender. I don't want to risk doing this again.

My Favorite Things--Simple Shopper Tote

So! My gifts for the annual My Favorite Things Party consited of four things: a framed picture I took of a pretty bluff in Yellowstone Park this summer--I called it your "Find a Happy Place Happy Place" for those times when you need a happy place, a mix cd

with some of my favorite female musicians on it (I called it my "Salute to Strong Women" mix, a pocket hand lotion---I am almost never without hand lotion! And, lastly, to hold it all together, a simple shopping tote made from fat quarter pieces of fabric I'd been collecting. I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew for the basics of the bag (but instead left off the outside pocket, used ribbon for the handles, and the fat quarters decided the size of my bag) and did either a 6" gusset or a 5" gusset, depending on the final dimensions of the bag. Nearly all the bags had contrasting sides (since I almost never bought two of the same fat quarter). It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself immensely! I'll post my playlist later....I'm hoping I can get one of those playlist thingys I've seen on other blogs.

I will leave you with this--the first song in my mix!