4 Out of 5 isn’t Bad!

I have been on a sewing bender this week and it is only Tuesday!  I have made the camera strap cover, mini tote bags, toilet paper holder and the luggage tag from Friday’s post.  I love the camera strap cover and the mini bags (which are totally cute!!!) and I even like the toilet paper holder but the luggage tag just wasn’t what I wanted.  I am pretty sure that is because I am not the greatest seamstress and I don’t always have a lot of patience when it comes to sewing a straight edge and I wanted perfection!

The camera strap is lovely and just what I had in mind.  I had left over bits from making mug rugs before Christmas and just cut  them into 2”x3” rectangles, stitched them together and then added a solid black to the back side.  Easy and still feminine but JG can carry it if he needs to and not be too embarrassed.  He hated the pink one that I used on the older camera.  Since the covers are easy to make I am thinking of putting another one together before I put all the fabric back into the closet.  Having an extra tucked into the camera bag may come in handy someday. 

I need to take photos of the totes but I am out of light for the day so maybe I will get to it tomorrow.  It depends on my mood.  We are all feeling about as crummy as we did yesterday but there is hope that tomorrow will find us slowly improving and beating these colds!

Happy Tuesday!

The Best Laid Plans….

Well, I wanted to share my December Daily album today, or at least parts of it, but I just don’t have enough sunlight or energy for that matter to get photos taken. The prints arrived from Shutterfly on Thursday and I had most of the photos added that night and finished it up on Friday.  I spent a little bit of time adding journaling where it was needed and now my book is complete!

However, it is overcast here today and I have come down with a cold that just has my energy level depleted.  Lolo came down with the cold last weekend and a week later she still has a lingering cough and sore throat.  Aubrey, JG and I all started to come down with the same symptoms on Saturday and I am worn out!  Hopefully this passes quickly so I can get on with my life!

I do have one page and it didn’t really photograph well but I do like the way the pages came together and this might be my favorite day for the entire December Daily album.  It is a little bit hybrid but mostly paper layout using bits of Echo Park and some older Ali Edwards products from Designer Digitals.

I also have a layout using the photo from our visit with Santa.  This photo also went into the December Daily album but I loved the photo so I made a 12x12 layout to go into our regular album.  I received the fantastic Echo Park Holly Jolly Christmas products from my Club CK Secret Santa, Jodi!  I love these papers so much!  So happy with a nice mix of traditional/non-traditional Christmas colors. 

I do hope everyone had a great weekend and that Monday is nice to you!

Five for Friday

I haven’t shared a Five for Friday post in for.ever so I have browsed my sewing board on Pinterest to share the 5 projects on my to do list.

1.  Cute fabric luggage tags!  What a fun way to identify your bags quickly and use up a bunch of scraps in the process.  Tutorial is here.

2.  Another travel item on my list is this cute little travel document pouch.  I have something that works now to hold our passports but it is plain and not attractive at all.  Tutorial can be found here.

 

3.  A cute little tote for my girls to carry while we travel, especially since we won’t always have the DVD player in the car with us.  Tutorial can be found here.

 

4.  This toilet paper holder is cute and looks easy.  No tutorial since it was for sale on Etsy but looks easy enough to figure out.  And since this one costs $45 it can stay there (no offense meant to the seller here as I am sure she is lovely and that hand embroidery took her a long time) because I can make it with fabric I have on hand.

 

5.  This one should be first on the list since it is the first project I plan on making ASAP for my new camera.  I hope to find some cute new fabric for this tomorrow  but if I don’t I will pull some from my stash.  You can find a tutorial here.  I have made one before and I learned that a darker fabric is better than a light blue and pink one since it won’t show dirt as quickly.  I am thinking maybe a black or gray base with a bright, feminine ruffle! 

 

Do you have any projects on your to do list?  I would love to hear about them.  Stay tuned next week for a fun Valentine blog hop and since February is my blog anniversary I will have a giveaway or two!

Have a great weekend!

Crochet Projects

Pinterest gave me a renewed interest in crochet and I have had at least one crochet project in the works constantly since I started back at it in the late summer.  Thanks to fabulous projects on Pinterest, some great videos on You Tube and free patterns from bloggers and Red Heart I have been busy. 

My most recently completed project was a crib sized (lap sized) blanket that I will be sending to my mom to add to our donation stash for the local cancer center there.  It was an easy project and I love ripples!  I need to find some great colors so I can make one for me.  I used the Windsor Ripple throw pattern from Red Heart this one.

Since this one is now finished I started a baby blanket for a friend.  Good thing her due date isn’t until April so I have a little bit of time to finish it.  I haven’t really worked on it much lately because I have been busy scrapbooking/card making instead.  I need to get back at it though.  I am using the Rickrack Rainbow Baby Blanket pattern, also from Red Heart, for it.  The colors are a little bit off…the pink looks kind of salmon colored but it is really a soft pink. 

Have you recently fell in love with a new hobby or picked up a renewed interest in an old favorite?  I would love to hear about it!

Where has January Gone?

So it is 24 days into 2012 and things are moving along for us!  We have been busy finalizing our last few trips here in Europe before we move back to the USA in July, squeezing in a quick trip to Prague, looking at lots of dates for shipping our household goods and vehicle back, checking into local schools for the starting dates and vacations....the list just goes on and on. 

JG received his assignment notification about 2 weeks ago and we will be heading to Kentucky!  I am rather excited as I haven't lived on the eastern side of the US since I left home in 1998!  A few years in Idaho, then a few more in Washington State and 4 years in Germany and I miss being close to my family.  Now we can drive to visit them rather than fly.  Of course, that means we have to fly to see JG's parents in California but we can deal with that.  It is hard having family all over the US though as someone always feels slighted when we plan our vacations.  We cannot possibly visit everyone so maybe now people will actually come visit us.  I love my family but it sure would be nice if we were not the only ones expected to make the trips to vist as airfare for 4 is expensive and since my oldest starts school this fall we have to plan around the school vacations as well. 

I have had a few minutes to get my craft on this month and have been working on layouts, cards and crocheting a baby blanket.  I have a ton of photos to get scrapped or at the very least into albums and that is one project I need to attack before we move!  I am looking into picking up some of Becky Higgins' Project Life products just for this purpose because it should make for quick photo organization...however, that is a whole separate subject.

I made this layout for a recent Club CK 1-Hour Challenge where we were to bust out our scoring boards and use it to make something for the layout.  The papers and most of the embellishments are by October Afternoon for this one.  The ribbon isn't quite as uneven as it looks in the photo because I cannot take a straight close up photo of a layout!  Grrr.  I need to slow down a bit. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  I am going to make an honest effort to blog regularly again.

A Little Trip....

We packed our bags for a quick 2 night stay to Garmish-Partenkirchen.  JG is taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and snowboarding while the girlies and I relax at the hotel.  We love being here and with stunning views of the German Alps right out our window, who wouldn't?