Toy Story Birthday Invitations

My oldest daughter loves Toy Story, so the girls' birthday party this year is going to be Toy-Story themed.  It's hard to say which character she likes best, but I picked Jessie as the central theme for her invitations.  I'm no Jessica, (you really should go look at hers, she designed those from nothing!) but I decided to design and print my own, rather than buying them pre-made. I found this image online, and downloaded it. Now I have to wait for the ink I ordered to get here so I can print them out.

I had a hard time choosing between doing a flat card or folded card, but in the end went with the flat one for the invitation,

 
and made the thank you cards folded.  Now, where is that ink??

T-shirt Re-Do

 So many things to blog!!  I'll try to break it up, but I'll be posting a lot over the next few days.

I've been wanting to try sewing on knit for a long time, but I've been too chicken to do it.  I finally decided to cut my teeth on something that wouldn't matter if I fouled it up.  I found a pain green t-shirt at the Salvation Army (Tuesday is military discount day at the lone up the street, how cool is that?) for 50 cents, and snatched it up without even trying it on.  When I got it home, I decided to play with it.  I also had a shirt of Brandon's that he was going to throw away, because it had been ripped when a dog jumped up on him.

It sucks about Brandon's shirt, because it was one of his favorites, but I'm salvaging what I can from it.  Anyway, the green shirt was a little tight and I can't stand to have anything tight around my neck, so I started by cutting the bottom hem off of the grey shirt, and the neck out of the green shirt.  Then I stitched the already-hemmed-strip around the new, still-raw neckline. 

It turned out alright, and was definitely much better, but it was still tight around the arms so I played some more.  I cut one of the sleeves off, then folded the shirt in half and used the first side as a guide to cut the second.  I cut another strip from around the bottom of the grey shirt, and found that it was long enough to do both arm holes.  I folded it in half long-ways, and stitched it on the same way that I did the neck line.

It's so much more comfortable now, and is kind of cute too!  It doesn't quite lay right, either because the green shirt was stretched out to begin with, or because I goofed something when I was adding the grey trim.  I don't care.  I plan only to wear it to bed, or around the house with the girls, and it gave me the opportunity to get a feel for working with knits.  I'm calling it a successful endeavor.  :)

Rug Making

Back when I was pregnant with Elora, I learned about rug hooking and decided to make a rug to go on the floor in the nursery.  I ordered an entire roll of rug warp ( I just know Corinnea was thinking I was crazy for that one), cut a bunch of fabric into strips, and got busy making a 45"x54" rug.  I spent only a few days on the project before I got bored with it and moved on to something else.  It then sat untouched for almost three years, until I pulled it back out a few days ago.   I put several hours' more work into it, and started another, much smaller rug to put in my kitchen.  Or maybe by the back door. 

I have this much done so far, and would like to continue working on it, but Elora has misplaced my locker hook.  In an attempt to find it, I straightened the living room and the den, moved and cleaned under all the couches and checked all the cushions, to no avail.

This is what my living room looked like an hour after straightening it.  It looks like this pretty much all the time.  Unless it's worse.  Actually, it's usually worse. Anyway, I'll need to check in all her toy boxes next, to try to find that hook.  I'm sure I'll find it as soon as I put the rest of the stuff away and move on to another craft.

Kaylie started rolling over about a month or so ago, but I just got around to trying to get it on camera today.  I got some good pictures of her, though none of them are of her rolling.  I did get some video; if I can figure out how to get it on the computer, I'll share it with you.

August 26:  I found my locker hook this morning, when I was cleaning in the girls' room.  Elora had dropped it in her catch-all basket.  I've already gotten another dozen rows done.  :)

I've Been Busy

Who knew that running a small Etsy shop would be so time consuming??  I've been putting all my spare time into mine.  I've been ordering supplies, making jewelry, listing new items, itemizing materials, and...shipping orders!  That's right, I finally made my first Etsy sale.  It took a while, but then I made 2 sales in one weekend.  Hooray! 

My Second and Third Entries

I made time today to put together 2 more entries for the MADE blog header contest.  Kelly was adventurous with her designs, and started from scratch.  I chose to use photos from the Made blog, and I did my best to make headers that would blend with the overall style and feel of the blog for which they're intended..  

The third one, in particular, is quite a departure from my normal style.  I would love for her to select one of my designs (the photography book she's giving away is particularly appealing to me) but entered more for the fun and experience of designing for someone else.  I think it was good for me to work outside my comfortable little box.  :) 

MADE Blog Header Contest and New Pretties

 I'm entering the Made blog header contest!  Here's my first entry:

Each person can enter up to 3, and I plan to enter 2 more, but first I have to find an opportunity to design them.  Thanks Kelly, for the heads up on this!

A recent special order had me going through my beading supplies to take stock of what I have, and what I needed to order.  Seeing all of my beads left me with ideas rolling around in my head, so I just had to set aside the sewing machine for a bit and make some jewelry.  I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've made any jewelry since we moved here, which is crazy!  My fingers remembered what to do, but I've lost my callouses.  Oh well.  Anyway, look for these pretties in my shop.  :)

Learning to Knit

My first "real" attempt; I'm not counting my  initial learning bits.

 Rebekah and I took a Beginning Knitting class this past month, and along with the other two ladies in that class, we've decided to take a knit-a-cowl class in August.  Knitting is one of the few skills my grandmother couldn't teach me as a child, so I'm kind of excited to be learning it now.  Even more exciting is that Brandon is staying home with the girls during these classes, so I'm getting the opportunity to get out of the house and spend some time with other adults.