pixiegenné

the ornament wreath: words of advice and caution

i've made a few of these ornament wreaths and someone recently asked me for some pointers. basically you take a foam wreath form, a bunch of vintage ornaments and a glue gun and you go to town. and here's a couple other things to keep in mind.

• it takes a LOT of ornaments to make a wreath. if you have two boxes of shiny brights, you do not have enough. if you have a big tupperware bin full of old ornaments with lots and lots of smaller ones, you're in good shape. the smaller ones are key for filling in gaps.
• you need one of those heavy duty glue guns...the yellow one. the little pink one doesn't get hot enough and as a result the glue doesn't set well. really those little pink ones are useless. if you have one i would throw it out and buy the yellow one.
• the glue can still unset, especially if you store the wreath in a cold place, so don't store the wreath anywhere that is uninsulated. 
• for hanging, you can use ribbon (hot-glued or pinned to the back) or hot glue a wall hanging thingy to the back.
• obviously, these wreaths are ridiculously fragile. kids under 10 shouldn't be allowed in the same room. kids under 5 really shouldn't even look at it.

and finally, if you're a ginormous ignoramous and can't wait the full hour for the 3M wall hook thingy to set before putting your wreath on the wall because you have the patience of a toddler and are basically too stupid to live, this may not be the craft for you.
that's right.
i'm gonna go cry in my coffee a little now.

anthropologie owl knock-off and neil patrick harris. what's the connection?

(there is no connection other than both are included in this post)

i got my anthropologie catalog this weekend and was smitten with these owls and thought "i can make those". incidentally, i often have that thought at a craft fair or browsing a catalog or magazine, but i rarely follow through with the actual making. but this time i did.

ok, not quite as cute as the one in catalog. something about the eye placement makes it look a bit like the anthropologie owl's slow cousin. but this is a prototype. i might play with it a little more and give some out as gifts this year.

so something you may not know about me is that i'm kind of a geek for musicals. my nephew just showed me the doctor horrible web series and i love it a little bit. then i was remembering how funny neil patrick harris was a few years back on will and grace and went looking for it on youtube and couldn't find it but then i found this which i thought was pretty fantastic. because, you know, i'm kind of a geek for musicals.

the candy needs to go away

we had a good halloween and are all on sugar overload. i think i might need to take drastic action to make the candy go way. one that doesn't involve me eating it.

thought i'd drop by and say hi - i've got a busy week ahead. the kids' school book fair starts tuesday which is my volunteer project so that will be taking up a chunk of my time.

and i'm super excited that stephanie will be in town this week. she's here with maria to promote their beautiful book. i'll get to stand in line and have mine signed on friday and will get to squeeze in some time with stephanie and jen on wednesday (i'm really hoping we'll be feeling super celebratory and not crying in our drinks. ok, i think we're meeting for breakfast but it might be one of those occasions when a breakfast drink is in order).

and i'm not the craft-making machine i usually am at this time of year. i've got no craft shows lined up this fall, which feels nice and calm. i will be part of an upcoming art show in january, and i've been messing around with some ideas for that...

that's all i got. have a great week!

picnic!!

i've been pulling some late nights but i think i'm ready. if you're local, please stop by and say hi!

i'll be back here soon. have a great weekend!
xoxo

there's a limit to what you can applique on a kid's shirt

i think i may have reached that limit.
i think my kids are getting too big for mom-made (or mom-embellished) clothes.
i mean, where do you go from here?
this?
or this?
or maybe this? ok, that would actually be pretty cool.

buy green

i've got a color scheme going on with today's shop update.

thanks for all the etsy love lately, by the way. your purchases help support my own etsy habit. i remember blair saying a while back something to the effect that her paypal account represented a closed market. true that. although i'm hoping to be a little more frugal so future profits can help with the back to school shopping that will be coming up soon.

here are a few cool items i'm trying to resist...
super cool treasure map
love this polaroid
so pretty
ok, i actually have one of these. great for the beach!
oh, i might have to buy this
i'm feeling weak. i have to walk away from the computer now.
happy wednesday!

more stuff

there's more stuff in the shop today (it was a good yardsaling weekend).

it's been very wet here lately, with some sunshine mixed in. but still, a lot of wet. this morning, for instance, it's lookng a little gloomy.  i'm hoping to find some friends for my kids so i can putter around the house. wish me luck.

happy monday!

on a roll

i've got a few more things in the shop. i've been unusually (and uncharacteristically) productive.

john sent this my way yesterday. i'm looking forward to that fo' sho'.
that's all i got. happy wednesday!

**cough**shop update**cough**

(in case you're interested)

oh right, this is a craft blog

i'm kinda making stuff again. more etsy updates to come...i hope to have a suitcase or two in there in the next week or so (once again making promises on the blog that i likely won't keep. why do i set myself up for failure this way? why?)

in other news, it's been beautiful out this week.
and i have just one more week of school until i'm off for the summer. yay. not that my job isn't great. it's just that when i went to grad school to be a librarian and decided to get a teaching certificate, i thought how great that would be when i someday became a working mom (to have school hours). and then i had kids and stayed home for seven years and i was cursing my student loans and my extra degree and the stupid comb-over mortgage lender who made me cry when (while denying us a mortgage), he made snide comments on my over-educated-under-employedness. but now i am a working mom with great hours and i will be feeling like a super smarty pants when i am garnering a paycheck each week this summer while sitting on the beach with the kids.

oh, and i need to give a shout-out to jen and aprill who are leaving for brooklyn this morning for renegade. i'm a little sad i'm not joining them this year but i couldn't handle the end of school year crazy craft cramming that comes with that sale. they are better women than me. i know they are going to have a great weekend. if you hit the sale, be sure to stop by their booth and ogle over their awesome wares.

ok, that's all i got. have a great weekend!