Stockings!

This is the stocking that I made for Brandon 5 years ago:

This is the stocking that I started for myself 5 years ago:

This is the stocking that I made for Elora on Sunday:

Now I'm back to working on mine. Among other things, none of which need to be done before I leave for the States on Friday. (Pictures of "other things" to follow later. Along with the recipe I promised Kelly.)

I'd like to draw your attention to my lovely box of DMC thread:

I bought the box and the DMC bobbins while I was still pregnant, and then forgot about them. I happened to see Jennifer's well organized DMC box the other day, and that combined with the need to use my DMC provided the necessary motivation to get mine organized. I'm happy with the results. Perhaps more embroidery will happen soon?

#1 or #2? And Some New Crafts.

I took those old photos and played with them a bit.  Which do you like better? The single page layout?

Or the two page spread?

I can't make up my mind.

I've also finished a new scarf, using the pattern from the wrapper on a ball of Bernat Alpaca yarn. The pattern was pretty confusing, and took me some time (and my handy crochet refernece book) to figure it out. Lizy, I'd hold off on this one if I were you, it'll just make you mad. It kind of made me mad. I also tried to make the hat from the pattern on the other ball of yarn, but that pattern was just terrible. I tried it twice, and ripped it out twice. Then I threw that pattern away, and went back to my other hat pattern and now it's half done.

Here's a sneak peek of the holiday jewelry I'm getting ready to bring in to the shop. There's a lot more to come, just as soon as I can get it done.

Adventures in Bead-Buying

I went with Lizy and Katelyn yesterday to the bead fair at the airport messe. It was great!

They had wall after wall and table after table laden with lovelies. There was a lot that I would have loved to get, but much of it was way out of my price range. Still, as Lizy put it, I made out like a bandit. Here's the loot:

Gorgeous, right? It should start appearing in the shop, converted into jewelry form, over the next several days. I also managed to snag a Christmas gift or two, so it's safe to say that the day was a Total Success.

Speaking of successes, I finally managed to finish that one digi spread that I've been agonizing over for days now. I ended up taking it in a whole new direction, which is exactly what it needed. I'm happy with the result:

And since I was on a roll, I went ahead and did a sample page for Kelly's new kit, Argyle Punk. Everything came from Kelly's kit, except for the alpha and the font. It's a great kit, Kelly, I love it!

I'm Paying It Forward!

I picked up this little game from Corinnea. Here are the rules: I will make a little something for the first three people who comment on this post. I will have 365 days to do it in. If you would like to play you must have a blog and post your Pay it Foward on your blog to keep the fun going.

And, while I have your attention, I thought I would show you these:

Embroidery

This is something that I did ages ago...last winter, I think. I finished the embroidery, but I never did anything else with it, and I never posted it. I'd originally thought to make it into a little bag, but now I think I might frame it.

Decoupaged Coat Pegs

While Brandon was gone last week, I decided that the little decoupaged square peg things we have in the shop are just too cute, and that I wanted to make some too. So I did! I painted them white and used some paper that I already had in my scrapbooking stuff.

I think they turned out really cute, and they look good in the little hallway by my front door. We don't have a coat rack, or even a good place for a coat rack, but I think coat pegs will work just as well.

The Brides in Their Jewelry

Kelly is now officially Mrs. Rapanaro:

Peguy is now officially Mrs. Tallack:

Actions

I've finally discovered actions for PSE. I downloaded several from this site, and I'm loving them. This one's called Attic Vintage (I didn't use a texture, haven't figured that part out yet):

And, this one is Lomo:

There are a bunch more, and I'm still learning how to really use some of them. If anyone knows of any other cool action sites, please pass them on to me!

This Week

I brought some new jewelry into the shop. This isn't everything that I've made recently, just what I brought in yesterday. First, modeled by the lovely Hannah, is the Currant Cordial necklace:

Green Apple Swirl modeled by Jennifer:

Sweet Potato Pie modeled by Corinnea:

and Marble Cake, also on Corinnea:

In case you're wondering why they all have food names, I think maybe I've come up with a new name for my endeavor : Delicious by Adie. Or, Delicious Accessories. (I can't decide which.) And then, I can give all my items food related names (since I'm setting up an Etsy shop), and my slogan can be, "Be Delicious". What do you guys think? Too corny? Too gimmicky? I still haven't made up my mind, and I would love feed back. Also, if anyone has any name suggestions for any of the above items, please toss them out for me. Thanks! Once I get the rest of my stuff photographed, I'll get it posted as well. :)

And The Winner Is...

...Kelly of KD Designs! I still haven't decided on a name--you guys gave me some great ideas, I just can't make up my mind. So, I used a random number generator on random.org to pick my winner. If I ever do make a decision, you all will be the first to know (after myself).

Congratulations, Kelly! Now we'll need to pick out your prize. :)

I'm Finally Doing a Give-Away!

I am thinking that perhaps, I need a new name for my "business". Currently, I am using 'Designs by Adie International', and at the time I came up with it, I thought it was great. I was going for elegant and sophisticated. But, now, I'm afraid it just sounds pretentious. But, I'm stumped. So, I'm looking for a vote: keep what I have?? Or, go with something new and fresh? Whichever you vote for, leave it as a comment. If your vote is for "new and fresh", give me a suggestion (or two). If I choose your suggestion, you'll win a custom made jewelry item by Yours Truly! If I decide not to change anything, then I will do a random drawing for the winner. Either way, you have to tell me what you think in order to win! I'll leave this open for one week, and announce the winner next Tuesday morning.

And, in case you're wondering, Yes. Yes, I am shamelessly bribing you to help me figure out what to do. Thank you for helping!

Baby Strap Guards

These are the little strap guards I made for Kara. They Velcro around the straps of a car seat (the little ones) or stroller (the longer ones) to protect the baby's neck from being rubbed by the rough edges of the straps. Like them?? They're super easy to make! I'm also working on a set for my sister-in-law, and a tutorial is coming soon to the shop blog. :)

Part one of "The Elora Book"

Here are the first 11 pages of the official Elora Scrapbook:

When I get them all done, I'm going to print them at the shop, and bind them into a book. Oh, and I'll be posting the rest as a "part 2". :)

Elora's Birth Announcement

I finally got Elora's birth announcements finished! Now, all I need to do is print them, and send them...

Peguy's Jewelry

Ok, here are the pics of Peguys' wedding jewelry, modeled by the bride herself:

This one is option A for the bride, and this one,

is option B. This last one is what all (10!) of her bridesmaids will be wearing.

Peguy is just as pleased as I am with they way it all turned out. She can't even decide between the 2 options we gave her, so she's taking both of them! I think that she's leaning toward the one with the larger pendant, and is planning to give the other one to her mother.

New Jewelry

I've been making some more jewelry. This black one is already on display at the shop, but haven't decided yet what I want to do with this one:


To keep it? or to sell it? Decisions... The bulk of what I've been doing, though, is the jewelry for Peguy's wedding ceremony, coming up at the end of July. I've now finished the bridal set, and the jewelry for 7 of her 10 (!) bridesmaids. I think it looks fantastic, and I tried to photograph it, but I couldn't get any good pictures. I'll have to get her to come over and model them for me, so I can try again then.

Crafting Again

I've been crafting again!! I've made more of the fun multi-strand bracelets, which I've decided are my new favorite thing.

And, I finally pulled out Elora's baby blanket and started working on it again. It won't take me long to do, now that I'm actually working on it. I didn't have much done on it to begin with, only enough to establish my pattern, and I've already tripled its size. Hopefully, I'll be posting the "finished" pics soon.

And for those who are interested, I posted some more of our baby pics (mine and Brandon's) to my photobucket. There are also a few interesting ones of us as children and teens. :)

'Stuff' Revisited

I just had to go back and do more with those 4 photos of Elora that I used before, now that I have a greater arsenal of digi-scrap materials at my disposal. I like this one a lot better than either of the last 2 pages I've done. And I should, since I spent way more time on it! I think I might actually print this one... ^_^ Now, I'm thinking I need to get started designing Elora's birth announcements...

Ok, I'm learning, I'm learning!

After talking with some of the girls at work, I checked out a few sites with free digi-scrapping supplies.  My first foray into the world of the Shabby Princess was magical! So many wonderful digi scrap kits! Kelly sent me to check out the site, shabbyprincess.com and I simply fell in love. I've heard the name thrown around both the shop and the blogosphere quite a bit, but I never knew what they were talking about (uninitiated as I was). Well, now I do, and now I'm hooked! I've already downloaded two scrap kits, though I've only gotten to play with one of them. This isn't my best work ever--the colors kind of blur together so it doesn't really pop--but I'm learning, and the learning process is fun. Stay tuned for future experiments!

Digi-Scrapping?

After 2 weeks of motherhood, I find that the only crafting I can do is on the computer, so I'm beginning to toy with digital scrapbooking...