Finished!

The long Thanksgiving weekend was much needed and much appreciated in my house. We spent time with family, cleaned A LOT, and finished a few old projects. You can categorize the white afghan from the "Work in Progress" to the "finished" section from now on!

Happy Monday! It's chilly here. Glad I have a warm blanket to snuggle under:)

Rachel May

Tuesday Quilting Progress!

Like I said before, Tuesdays are for quilting. I feel so productive! I made progress on the Picnic Time Quilt that I started SO long ago, and finished the top to my new quilt-the Sherbert Quilt is what I'm calling it.

If I can finish it in time, the Picnic Time Quilt will be a Christmas gift. It's one of my goals, but it's a big undertaking, so we'll have to see what happens.

Once the last few rows are sewed on to the Picnic Time Quilt, I need to make a quilt sandwich and start quilting everything together. I think I'm going to go the easy route and sew strands of embroidery floss in the corners and tie it together. We will see though.

Have you been doing any sewing lately?

Rachel May

Weekend Sewing on a weekday

I was in sewing mode last night. Have you ever checked out Weekend Sewing? If not, check it out here.
Last night, I made the Sunday-Dinner Hostess Apron. It was pretty quick and simple to complete. At first, my living room looked like a pattern storm went through it, but once the pattern was traced and the fabric was cut, the sewing part was pretty quick.

I used a "vintage" (aka: from Goodwill) pillowcase for the body of the apron and some scrap fabric for the waistband.

I would have had a live model for these photos, but they were taken at 11 at night and orange isn't Boyfriend's color.

Along with the thought to Pledge Handmade, I was thinking this might be Christmas Gift #1. I have some fabric napkins that go with it well. A nice pairing as-is, but we also have some raspberry jam in the pantry that I made this year, so that will probably go with it also.

They look so happy together. And I'm happy to get some progress done on handmade gifts! If I keep this up, handmade Christmas gifts are going to be aplenty this year!

Rachel May

Tuesdays are for Quilting

On Tuesdays, my friend Jody and I quilt, eat dinner, gossip and drink beer. It makes for a nice pause in a busy week for me, with staff meetings being on Tuesday mornings and them being the longest of my day of each week.

Jody is learning how to sew, so our ongoing joke is that we make drink more than quilt, but we've actually gotten quite a bit done since we started. We're using 8 inch squares and just doing a normal patchwork square quilt-easy peasy to start.

I've finished my quilt top last night (or rather, I've run out of fabric AGAIN), but It's really long and narrow, so I think I'm going to add a long row to the side to make it wider (so not quite done, I suppose).

Work has been stressful this week as we look for a new assistant, but I've been looking forward to Tuesday nights and our quilting.

Rachel May

Are you pledging handmade?

I have to write this super fast or I'll be late for work, but I wanted to ask:
Have you ever heard of Pledge Handmade? Here's an article about it. I'm thinking about pledging handmade this year.

The only problem? Well, there's two: Time, or lack thereof (isn't this always a problem?) and what to make? I have some things figured out, so once I complete them I'll share them with you.

What are you giving for gifts this year?

Off to work!

Rachel May

Sketchmania Sneak Peek #42

Here's a sneak-peek of my Sketchmania submission for this week. Head on over to Dee Dee's blog (here) to check out more OR make your own cards to enter for a new prize each month!


Enjoy!

Rachel May

Sketchmania #35

We're taking a break from the house tour today to share the card I made for the weekly Sketchmania Challenge. The house tour will continue in the next post:)

(click image to enlarge)

Check out the inspirational layout and other crafty people's submissions here!

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Sketchmania #34

(click image to enlarge)

Better late than never, here is my submission for the Sketchmania challenge for this week! Check out other people's submissions on Dee Dee's blog, or make your own card and submit it for a chance to win a lovely prize.

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Sketchmania: Challenge #33

(click to enlarge)

Please excuse my absence...trying to get back on the blog wagon. Here's my submission for the Sketchmania challenge this week. Click here to see the sketch and what other people came up with!

If you'd like to join in the fun, please do! There's a new sketch out every Wednesday and you can create your own scrapbook pages or cards using the sketch as inspiration. Then, send Dee Dee a link to it so you can enter for some awesome crafty prizes each week. Just check out the Sketchmania section for more info:)


Enjoy!

Rachel May

Schoolhouse Tunic

Today, I'll be here, learning how to sew this. So excited!

Rachel May

Horseshoe Craft and Flea Market

Happy Saturday! Today I ventured out to the Horseshoe Craft and Flea Market. It was awesome! Here's what I found:

Handmade Soap by Clean Getaway in Almond Vanilla (mmmm)

Earrings made using recycled skateboards by Mukee (perfect fall yellow color)

I also purchased an event tote bag, the new Fancy Tiger Class Schedule, some granola and coffee from a shop called Cake (whoever was the genius behind the whole coffee-at-a-craft-fair thing is my hero).

I saw some other cool shops that I want to check out as well: Presents for Pirates has cute notebooks and things, Dandy Social Club makes me want kids-cutest kids clothes ever, Bluedoor had an amazing sewing machine painting that I REALLY want, Vital Industries and Tomte Craft (same place) were also there.

Such crafty success! So glad I attended.

How's your Saturday going?

Rachel May

Sketchmania!

As you may already know, I'm a designer in this weekly challenge over at Sketchmania. If you don't, go check it out! It's held at Miss Dee Dee's blog.

Here is my entry for this week:





Enjoy!

Rachel May

Craft File: White Afghan

I started to crochet this afghan a while ago, then ran out of yarn and it fell by the wayside. Hopefully posting it will encourage me to buy more yarn and finish crocheting. It's actually not too difficult and the bulky yarn allows you to see a lot of progress rather quickly. I wanted to stay away from making it look like a typical grandma's afghan and to sort of modernize the look, so I'm using all cream-colored yarn and a stitch that add a lot of texture.




Details: Yarn: Lion Grand Wool-Ease, Color 099 Fisherman and a size N hook.



Tips/Tricks: I use a huge hook and a bulky yarn to help the afghan grow faster and to make the project seem less daunting.



Enjoy!



Rachel May

Sketchmania!

Just a quick post to share that I'm a designer on the sketchmania team! It's a great group of amazing designers led by Miss Dee Dee. Each week she comes up with an amazing sketch for a card or scrapbook page. If you enter through August, you'll be eligible for a prize! Check it out!







To see the inspiration sketch and other designer's interpretations , check it out here.



Enjoy!



Rachel May

Card Challenge 7 Requirements

We've made it through challenge 6, great work!

Next Challenge: For the next to weeks, your challenge is to create a birthday card for a child. It must include an animal in some form or another (it doesn't have to be the main focus) and you must stamp one thing on a patterned paper somewhere on the card. I expect you all to kill me with cuteness, and I can't wait to see what you come up with!



Due Date: August 8, 2010
Designer for next challenge: SkyleRae
Other Designers: Dee Dee

Post a link to your completed cards in the comments below, I'd love to see them!

Enjoy!

Rachel May

Card Challenge #4 Requirements!

Now on to the next challenge! For the next two weeks, you need to create a flat notecard. Something that you could use to pass a note to a friend, tuck inside a gift bag, or tell your S.O. you love them. Your only requirement is that it must be flat-you can use any size you want, but keep in mind that you will still need to be able to write on it, so bulky embellishments might not work so well.
I used funky fibers to create dimension without adding bulk to the front of the card. This was designed to look like a postcard, the back is blank white for writing your message. I added bulk by adhering heavy cardstock to the middle, so even though this is a notecard and not a folded card, it still feels substantial. I might mess with the fiber a bit to push it away from the lettering on the stamp, but other than that, I'm pleased with the result.

Skyler, you're next!

In this Challenge: SkyleRae and Dee Dee

Good luck on this challenge and happy crafting!

Rachel May

Card Challenge #3 Results

Our challenge for the last two weeks was to create a monochromatic card, using 2 different patterned papers. I have to say that I really enjoyed this challenge. Here are my results:


I used Where the Heart Is/My Mind's Eye papers by Zoe Pearn, two different ones of course! And a stamp from the Boards and Beams stamping set from Papertry Ink, embossed in white. I think this would be an excellent card to give someone who just moved, or just purchased a new home.

Next Post: Card Challenge #4 Requirements

Enjoy!
Rachel May

New Etsy Line: Handmade Cards!

Check out this new line I've created for Etsy! I wanted to create a product that was fun and used up scraps of handmade paper (reduce, reuse, recycle) and to serve as an idea for the use of handmade paper that you can get in my shop (if you want to buy colored handmade paper, go here).

Use these cards to brighten up a friend's day or to tell that special someone how much you love them.

Each card is made using either card stock or kraft paper (recycled), adorned with a stamped element with handmade paper scraps sewn to the front. The handmade paper gives the cards great dimension! You also receive an envelope with each card, as shown in the images.

Stay tuned! Tomorrow will be the first post of Our New Place: The Pantry!

Enjoy!

Rachel May

DIY Card Kits

These will be added to my shop tonight. These kits come with one card, an envelope, embellishments, and handmade paper scraps so you can create your own sentiments! If you aren't into creating, they'd make a great gift for a crafty friend! I hope to have many different colors available soon, but right now, you can check out my shop and see what's available!

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Handmade Paper

Forgot to post this earlier----isn't this gorgeous? I think handmade paper is luvly. And now you can get some from my shop!

And can I just say how nice it is to have my very own computer back? I sure did miss her!

Enjoy!
Rachel May