Freezer Paper Monogrammed Tote Bags

My twin nephews are turning 4 next week.

I decided I wanted to give them their presents in some sort of bag they could use again. I found these great little canvas tote bags at Joann's for $.97 & couldn't resist. They were designed to be made into purses by adding your own handles. I thought the purse handles were just a little too pursy so I sewed handles out on 1" webbing.

To make the monograms I printed their initials 3-inches tall on freezer paper. Then I cut the letters out with an exacto knife to create a stencil. The freezer paper irons onto the bag allowing me to easily paint on the initial with fabric paint. Once dry, the freezer paper peels right off. After 48 hours I set the fabric paint by ironing it.

The bags are filled with lots of little things boys love like crazy straws, punching balloons, toy cars & M&Ms plus I think they'll like having their own bag to tote their favorite things around in the future.

Etsy Day

A bunch of Etsy sellers have gotten together to declare today Etsy Day. A day for sellers to try to get people aware of what Etsy is. I'm sure most people who read this blog are probably already familiar with what a great place Etsy is to find handmade & vintage items. If you haven't visited Etsy, go, have a look around I'm sure you'll be surprised by all the beautiful & unusual things you find & want. In the meantime I thought I'd share some of my favorite sellers with you.

We've been in our house for just over a year but we've finally started looking for & buying art for the walls. Other than photos that either we or friends have taken, most of the art we've bought has been from Etsy sellers.
My first addiction was with Badbird - Andrea Zulli

These are two of her prints we have around the house. (Space Cadet Timmy is perfect in Matt's office.) I also have a wonderful grumpy gnome in my craft space.

She also sells great embroidery patterns & gives a free one away once a month on her blog.

We discovered local Twin Cities area seller Studio Mela at a local craft fair, Craft-a-rama & bought a print for our bedroom. I recently bought this print from her for the living room.

Last year at Maker Faire in Austin we discovered the photography of e.soule. We had to stop ourselves from buying more than three of her prints, they are just so much fun!

How perfect are those sheep with yarn for a knitters craft room!

Someone I recently discovered was Yellow Monday from Australia. I love her sense of whimsy.

I couldn't resist buying Three Hares from her just to celebrate all the bunnies we have in our yard.
Our tastes might not be the same as yours but the wonderful thing about browsing Etsy is there really does seem to be something for everyone.

Bluebird of Happiness

We've had a couple grey rainy days so I've been working on this cheery little piece. I love simple pieces featuring birds lately & was really inspired by the art of Andrea Zuill of Badbird.

I did something new with this felt applique and added a few embroidered details. It's still quite simple but I like the little extra those details give it. I so love how the blue looks on the brown.

I was lucky & found a button the exact same color as the bird at Joann's so, I used it to close up the back.

I was tempted to keep this one for myself since it matches our bedroom so perfectly but instead I added it to my etsy shop. So, I guess I'll just have to make another one to keep.

Craftgawker

Have you seen this? Foodgawker has now started a site for crafts called Craftgawker!

What's Happening

Since I finished my Garter Yoke Cardi & another sweater I made for Matt is in the "set in the zipper stage" I got to cast on a new project. My friend Lori & I had decided awhile back to knit the men in our lives the Cambridge Jacket from Interweave Knits Summer 2006.

(photo copyright Interweave Knits)

The pattern calls for Cascade 220 but Matt didn't find a color he loved at our local shop so they suggested this Ella Rae Classic yarn & he picked this shade of green. This Romanian yarn has been wonderful to work with & is an exact substitute for 220.

I'm about 12 inches into the back, the ribbing pattern keeps it a little more interesting than straight stockinette. Of course, we are now heading into warm weather & he won't need this sweater until at least September.

I finished a new embroidered pillow last week with a spray of Queen Anne's Lace on it.

One of my Flickr contacts took a beautiful silhouetted shot of Queen Anne's Lace earlier this year & it inspired me to draw up this embroidery pattern. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm really happy with how it turned out because I'm really not much of an artist when it comes to drawing.

This pillow is now available in my Etsy store. I also have plans for a matching one with a whole field of Queen Anne's Lace.

If you'd like a little peek into my craft space HandmadeMN just did an article on it here.

Squirrel Pillow

I've been working on this throw pillow for awhile now but finally finished it this week.

I think all the squirrels we have running around here in Minneapolis are so cute, despite the fact the love to dig up my garden & eat my fence ;) So, I decided to immortalize one on a throw pillow. The squirrel is made of recycled felt & then hand appliqued onto a cotton background.

I was so thrilled to find an acorn pillow to use for the back!

I'm tempted to keep this little guy for myself but instead he's available in my etsy shop.

Garter Yoke Cardi, Done!

I finally finished my Garter Yoke Cardi from Knit1 Magazine.

I pretty darn happy with the results. The shaping on it is quite flattering & keeps the sweater from looking too bulky like so many handknits. The only thing I changed on the pattern was the sleeves. The pattern had 3/4 length sleeves with no shaping. I wanted long fitted sleeves. It took me 4 tries to get the decreases right but it ended up being as simple as decreasing 2 stitches every 12 rows. Now, I have long arms & a shorter person may want to decrease more often.

My only worry is that the buttons are a little too small for the buttonholes even though they are the size that was called for. I really like the buttons I picked though so if it does keep coming unbuttoned I'll just sew the buttonholes up a little bit.

DIY Adjustable Light for Starting Seeds

We decided to start a lot of our vegetables from seed ourselves this year instead of buying plants from nursery. We figured it would be cheaper in the long run since seeds are cheap & can be saved to use from year to year. The main outlay would be the cost of a grow lamp. We wanted something adjustable that could be moved up as the plants grow bigger. Matt started pricing grow lamps & figured he could make something pretty easily with a shop light & some scrap lumber in our basement for much less. His final design was so ingenious I thought I'd share it.

This is our seed starting set up on an old workbench in the basement. The light is big enough to accommodate 2 flats of seeds. The hooks & eyes along with the rope create a pulley system to move the light up & down. The rope is secured to the ends to two screws with wing nuts, working a lot like a cleat on a boat.

Here's what you need to build it...

15 1/2 feet of 2x4 cut into the following pieces
two 15" lengths
two 3" lengths
two 48" lengths
two 27" lengths

four 4" bolts with 4 washers & 4 wing nuts

ten 2" screws

four 1" screws to attach light to wood (this may vary for your lamp)

two screw in hooks

four screw in eyes

one 48" shop light with daylight bulbs (you don't need to spend extra for plant bulbs)

8 feet of rope, thin enough to go through your eyes

Here's how it's put together. 

1. On one of the 48" pieces of wood screw an eye in 1.5-inches from the edge, screw a hook in 8.5-inches from the same edge. Repeat on the other edge.

2. Attach a 15" piece with three 3" screws to the bottom of each 27" length as shown above creating the legs. 

3. With two 3" screws, attach the 3" pieces of wood to the ends of one of the 48" as shown above, creating the top. 

4. Use the 4" blots to attach the top to the legs as shown. The wing nut end of the 4" screws should face out.

5. On the other 48" piece of wood attach an eye 5.5 inches in from each side.

6. Attach the light fixture to the piece of wood you just put the eyes on. Our lamp only came with hardware to hang it from a chain, we had to take it apart & screw it to the wood through holes that were already in it

7. Stand up & tie the end of the rope to one of the hooks, run the rope through the eye on top of the light fixture, through the first hook & then the second. The rope then goes through the second eye on the light fixture & the final eye on the top. Adjust the rope to get the light even & to the height you want. Secure on to the ends of the bolts.