Here's Some Great Crafting Eye-Candy

About a week ago I asked you readers if there were blogs out there you'd seen and liked. Thanks for sharing your blogs with us (though I couldn't get your link to work, Kim)! You're all doing a lot of cute stuff! I found a list of reader favorites in the crafting world on Poppytalk. Of these, I loved http://www.goinghometoroost.com http://blog.betzwhite.com/ http://racheldenbow.blogspot.com/ Most of the winners in the post I linked have etsy shops for you peruse. Poppytalk itself is full of great stuff. Enjoy! -C

Craft room Storage Crates

I have a cute white desk in my craft room that I purchased on Target.com a few years ago. I love the style and simplicity of it, but the desk has open shelves on it. The open shelves are very deep and I have never been able to find the right size of baskets to fit the shelves. So, considering the fact that I love to cut wood, I decided I was going to make my own wooden crates... that way I could make them to perfectly fit under my desk.

And they fit perfectly.... it's almost scary. I only made three and now looking at the pictures, I'm wondering if I should make one more. I have my Cricut mats and paper trimmers on the top shelf and they kind of hang out so they wouldn't fit in a crate. I guess I could find somewhere else to store them so that I could have a perfectly even desk storage. I had so much fun building them. I love it when I get to use tools and saws without my hubby's help... it's even better that he's willing to clean up my sawdust mess:) My ultimate goal is to get this craft room organized enough that I can take pictures of the whole room and post them for you... one step at a time.... Here's a preview of one wall.

Tooth Monster

We have our first loose tooth at our house:) This is so exciting for us. But being the crafty mom that I am, I had to find something for my little boy to put his tooth in for the tooth fairy. So, we went blog searching to see what we could find. My favorite tutorial was on mmmcrafts. Totally cute, but super girly. So, I used the idea and the pattern... but then I saw this idea on instructables.com and my little boy loved it.

I wanted him to help. So, I cut out the white fabric. Then I handed him my stash of felt and told him to cut out his eyes and teeth and anything else that he wanted. I then sewed the felt onto the tooth for him. I wanted to have the tooth go into the opening of the mouth like on the tutorial, but the mouth was too low on the tooth and it just wasn't going to work. So, my husband suggested making a pocket for the back of the pillow! So, now we are patiently waiting for this tooth to fall out:) By the way, what's the going rate for a tooth from the tooth fairy these days? -Anisa

Cozy Car Caddy by Jill

We love getting all sorts of ideas from craft blogs everywhere to make for our families. When I saw the cute Cozy Car Caddy on homemade by jill (click link for her tutorial). I knew I'd be making it for my three-year-old. Being the least skilled at sewing of the three of us, I felt this was something I could handle. Here's my version:

The changes/shortcuts I took were these:

• I used a double layer of regular quilting cotton as I didn't have any duck fabric on hand.
• I used foam stamps instead of the stencil intending to paint over them again, but I liked the faded look of one layer of paint a lot and kept it that way.
• I didn't 'get' the Velcro closure part and so I used a ribbon folded over to make a loop and placed a button on the back. My little boy likes to button his own buttons now so this is perfect.

This is going to be ideal for taking in the car or for quiet time in church (if boys can really be quiet playing cars in church). Now my eight year old wants one. I'd like to make a My Little Pony version for my little girl, but time will tell if that materializes. Here's the very happy recipient. I don't know how he's survived these two days (though it just took two hours of those two days) to make this.

--C

What's New Out There?

I've had a great time perusing the craft blogs that we follow regularly.
It was so much fun, in fact, that it left me wondering...
What Else Is Out There?
Naturally, there's no way for one (or two or three) people to discover all the cool crafting blogs out there.
Leave a link (or two or three) of your favorites out there in the blog-o-sphere, even if it is someone we already have in our sidebar.
If YOU have a craft blog, promote away!

Get Down with Scrapbooking: Fun Times!

We had so much fun at the charity crop this weekend!

Here is Anisa with her sister-in-law Shelly.

Angie definitely accomplished the most, finishing the most layouts of the three of us.

Me (Cami) and my mom, Cindy

The food and people involved were amazing.

Anisa taught a class on making an acrylic mini-album that brought in more money for the foundation. She did an awesome job designing it and putting all the supplies together.
We took a group photo too late in the game. Many had already left and I was sad we didn't have the benefit of natural lighting. Here we are anyway...

We left already looking forward to next year!!!

Get Down with Scrapbooking: Before the Crop

What: Get Down with Scrapbooking, a crop with procedes going to the Utah Down-Syndrome Foundation
When: January 22nd and 23rd 2010
Where: Jefferson Place Club House Sandy, UT
Why: to help the Utah Down Syndrom Foundation in a small way in support those families affected by Down Syndrome by raising funds while having FUN

Get Down with Scrapbooking was started by Marlene Kinikini with her husband's support to give back to the Foundation that had so helped their family. (BTW, Marlene is Angie's cousin)

Anisa, Angie and I asked to help out for this year's event. What a priviledge and joy it was for us to be part of this.

The set-up:




Silent Auction bidding goodies:

Let the FUN begin!!!

Angie, Anisa and I are off tonight for the early-bird beginning of Get Down with Scrapbooking charity crop. The crop benefits the Utah Down Syndrome Fountation and we're excited to be part of this. If you have a desire to donate to this great cause, email us and we'll tell you how to best do it.
Look here next week for pictures of all the fun we had AND look at our little side-blog Twiddle-Scraps to see the layouts we made (I'm also hoping that we can post the scrapbook layouts of other participants).

On a side note, one of my personal favorite blogs is up for a weblog award. Go here (and scroll right) to vote for How About Orange! (and any other blogs you love)

--C