the year of finished projects.

I have decided that, as part of my yearly resolutions, 2012 will be the year of finishing the unfinished.  I have quite the list going of projects/books/adventures that I have started or planned, and that have gone uncompleted.  I figure this year is as good as any to play catchup!  Here's my list so far. I'm sure I'll be adding to this list throughout the year...

Projects to finish!

- Pillowcase embroidery project (Finished! See below!)

- Knitted scarflette (my first knitting project!)

- Kitchen hand towels, the first of which was showcased here.  Three to go.

- Photo collage (Finished! See below)

Projects planned, but that I have yet to start! 

(As you will see, many of these projects/ideas come from Pinterest. No, I can't help myself.)

- Anna Maria all purpose bag (the plan was for two of these, one for me and one for my mom.  Mom's was finished, but never photographed... as is usually the case! Mine hasn't made it to the sewing table yet.)

- Reusable sandwich bags (still working this project out in my head)

- Felt circle pillow, as seen here, to go with my growing and eclectic collection of homemade pillows

- Wine cork trivets, seen here, because we have no shortage of wine corks! 

- DIY hair comb (I think they're making a comeback...)

- DIY wrap bracelets, seen here.  Plans are in the works to a group craft night (Crafty Beaver's Night), but Snowmageddon might get in the way of that.

- Handmade notebooks using fabric and paper scraps for the covers. 

Anyway, on to what I've done so far.  Here's a project that I've been working on for at least a year and a half. No joke. Well, ok, I worked consistently on it for a few months, and then put it down until last week. Boom. Done. This looks great as a decorative pillow on my bed. Part of my effort to bring some color into my life. I especially love those little bluebirds! 

At the beginning of the year, my roommate (housemate, whatever you call it) Emily and I thought it would be a good idea to rearrange out living room. To bring some good change to the flow of our apartment. We love the new set up, but the wall our TV sits on is a big, ugly, white wall.  We needed something and figured a photo collage wall would be great here.  I gathered some old heavy brown wood frames from thrift stores in the area, and spray painted them black or white.  Despite the wall still being big and ugly white, I was happy with how the collage wall turned out.

Up next... finishing this scarflette before winter turns to spring.  Which, here in Seattle, could be any day now or many months away.  In any case, I need to get to work! (and thanks to Jill for this great bag from her last giveaway!)

-shauna

christmastime crafts.

Although this wasn't a big crafting season, I was able to finish a few projects.  For my work holiday party, my good friends Reetu and Laura helped me put together these centerpieces.  Thanks to Pinterest for the idea!  I took wine and beer bottles (labels on or off, it doesn't really matter), spray painted them with white primer, and let them dry for several hours.  Then applied Modge Podge to the bottles and rolled them in Epsom salt mixed with silver and gold glitter.  Platters and ornaments are from the dollar store.  Quick and easy, and looked great on red table cloths! 

You'll see a theme in my craft endeavors this year, most came from Pinteresting.  For a few friends, I decided to make lightweight infinity scarves, something that would work both in our cold Pacific Northwest winters and cool summer nights.  I used a brown linnen fabric, and a border of blue or white poms.  There were some tricks and turns to be overcome during this project, but in the end I was happy with how they turned out!

I've been wanting to make body scrub for a while now.  It's always shocking to me that a tub of this stuff runs $10 - $15 at body shops.  That's a lot for body scrub! So I used a few different recipes, added and took away, and came up with a Lemon-Brown Sugar Body Scrub.  Ingredients are as follows: Lemon peal, lemon juice, brown sugar, regular sugar, and safflower oil.  I just mixed all ingredients, adding a little here and a little there, until i seemed to have the right consistency.  I suppose you could use any oil you want, I chose safflower for a less potent smell than, say, olive or vegetable.  Of course, I had to sample the product before I gifted the jars.  Although you have to give it a quick mix before each use (easily done by hand in the shower), in my opinion, this stuff works great! Try it out!

I did make my momma something for Christmas too, but as usual, I gifted it before I got photos of it!  I'll have to get ahold of it again and snap some photos, so be on the look out for those!

-shauna

k is for kindle.

My mom and dad got me an Amazon Kindle for my birthday.  I love it! But I actually felt it was a bit too thin for me to hold comfortably when reading.  I also knew I needed to protect it from scratches, gunk, and anything else that life might throw its way.  I decided to make my very own Kindle Cover.  It took some thought and planning.  This was one of those projects that I think on for much longer than it would take to just do it.  But in the end I was happy with it.  Take a look...

See!? Nice and snug in its holder.  I used two pieces of cardboard inside to offer some sturdy protection and a piece of elastic to hold the Kindle in place.  Considering covers can run a good $30 or so through Amazon, I was pretty happy with how this little guy turned out!

-shauna

basket makeover.

I have this basket, see. I'm not sure when or where I acquired it, but it has come to be a regular part of my daily routine. I pack it up each morning with my lunch and various reading materials for class. After work, it usually gets filled with needed items, books, notebooks, etc. and comes with me to class. Then, it gets carried home and emptied out, ready to do it all over again the next day.

Well, in the last few weeks, this basket has really started showing it's age. The handles started fraying and coming apart from the basket, the liner dingy. Just looking a little sad these days.

Sad. Really sad.

So, not wanting to just chuck my beloved basket, I decided to do a basket makeover. Of course I ended up making it more complicated than it needed to be, but everything worked out after some brainstorming with my momma, and some more troubleshooting.

May I present you with..... New and Improved Spring Basket!

-shauna

a much needed update.

I meant to post about all the little projects I've been working on for a while now, including Christmas gifts, however I suppose I've just put it off until now!

First, back in October, my family had a graduation party for my little brother. I supplied some decorations in his school colors.

For the holidays, I tried to make as many gifts as I could. Here are some of the gifts I managed to get photos of!

Gifts I didn't get a chance to take photos of were an apron for Grandma, a few little zippered pouches for friends, and a tote bag for the Guinn Family Handmade Gift Exchange.

I've got a few things in the works now, I'll post as soon as I manage to finish them!

-Shauna

oh, brother.

For my birthday, my parents gifted me a new Brother sewing machine, my very first machine of any kind.  I was so excited that I started in on a new project right away.  Since my mom used to be quite the fabric lady, I thought I should take advantage of her knowledge and know-how, so she guided me in some sewing basics.  I chose a McCalls apron pattern for my first project (the pattern I used is here), since I've been fawning over those fancy aprons I see everywhere these days.

Of course, I couldn't be happy with following the pattern exactly and wanted to make some changes.  Somehow I always seem to get ahead of myself when learning a new craft.  Anyway, here's how my first creation went:

And Finally...

I added the waistband, and it turns out, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to just throw in a waistband! Good to know for next time. Fun project! I'm excited to try more!

~> Shauna