pixiegenné

back in the saddle*

finally dusted off the sewing machine this weekend...

i made this for jane's friend yesterday. i was down to the wire on this one, stitching like crazy w/ten minutes until the party. the stitching is a little sloppy. as with all my sewing work, don't look too close. best viewed at a distance or maybe i should get one of those hazy lenses like they use whenever kirstie alley is on t.v. (insert bitchy cat noises here).

*this always sounds naughty to me and reminds me of this time my friend's (now ex)-mother-in-law was wondering when she was going to hurry up and get pregnant and told her she needed to "hop on the cane". no lie.

the year in craftiness

i got this idea from michelle. try it - it's very satisfying.

now i'm off to box up all the christmas crap stuff. oh, you too?
happy purging.
happy fresh start.
happy new year!

braggartly (i mean, more than usual)

"braggartly" means one who brags a lot. i looked it up because i thought it was "braggerly" but i was wrong. i try to be careful about these things, except for last weekend when i mistakenly used "erroneously" to mean "unnecessarily" and got called out for it. (in my defense, i was drunk at the time)

anyway, i'm here today to brag about this book, which i am in (along with lots of other cool crafters). my pincushions were on the cover in an early mock-up, but this talented girl's work ended up on the final copy. i just got my copy yesterday and it is really pretty. i'm psyched. it's weird and cool and i'm trying to shrug off the ever-present feeling that i'm a crafting fraud and just enjoy the moment.

and it's funny, i never thought of my pincushions as being "cupcake-shaped". are they?

couldn't resist

i'm trying not to overdo it with the xmas decorations but i could not resist the lure of the fabric wreath. the fabric buttons i used here i made last spring and i have to say they are a complete and utter bitch to make. unless i am missing something and if so please let me know because i was bummed and swearing a lot when i made them. the wreath, however, is super easy-peasy. grab a foam wreath. cover w/fabric. embellish.

for the local peeps

stop by and say hi if you're in the 'hood...

dream little

(a little wreath i made yesterday)

a fellow portland blogger (check out her etsy store) recently tagged me for a dream challenge meme. this one was hard - i'm not the dream-big type. and i'm pretty content with my little life, little family, little house, little city, little job, little craft business, little circle of friends. so here's some (little) dreams...

trip to europe (i've never been)
new skills
ski more
visit and host friends and family more
take the kids cross-country

that's about all i can come up with. join in if you want, maybe i'll be inspired.
happy wednesday!

another

hi guys. i'm making a few button wreaths to sell. a few of us portland crafty-types (plus this cool girl) will be taking over john's office for first friday art walk this week. then a few more of us will be at the space gallery for the annual shop-a-do next wednesday. so we've all been crafting up a storm. if you're local, stop by and say hello!

and i'm once again late with the new blog-o-the-month. this month it's estea of robot-jumping-rope. besides having a beautiful home and being a very talented crafter and very lucky thrifter, she is also a great writer and hers is one of those blogs i love read and ogle over.

and i'm luckily not late in wishing my favorite seven-year-old a very happy birthday!
and a happy tuesday to the rest of you!
xoxo

bloggers are dorks (crafters, too)

(we're all just crawling out from under a rock after being sick for most of the last few days. i sat on the couch with the kids and made lots of paper snowflakes...)

i have this bloggy friend that lives a couple miles from my house and we have a few friends in common and we leave comments on each other's blogs and e-mail back and forth sometimes yet we've never met (though our husbands have). i like this little piece of self-deprecating snark that she posted yesterday.

it reminds me of last spring when i was in brooklyn for renegade - i was having some drinkies w/some brooklyn friends and my friend scott asked "how was your little ren fair?" which made me feel all defensive and then it hit me that i'm a huge dork. and then i was thinking, well, it could be worse. i could be a star wars dork or a trekkie dork or one of those dorks that goes to grateful dead cover band concerts and tries to guess which concert they are authentically replicating (albany, '78!!). but i'm still a dork. a crafty blogging dork.

(plus i'm a librarian)

(of course i'm only talking about myself here. you are wicked cool)

making the most of a sick day

both kids are home sick today which means i am home from work with them, which is kind of nice (not that i'm psyched that they are sick, but you know what i mean). today i'm...

• listening to this station which plays nothing but xmas music between thanksgiving and xmas which sometimes makes me want to barf, but it's nice when you are spending the day decorating or cookie making or holiday crafting or whatever
• running to the store to get "sick treats" for the kids ("the junkie popsicles, not the kind with fruit in them")
• re-doing the halloween decorations to make them more holiday-appropriate
• making stuff for upcoming fairs
• watching goofy stuff john sends me, both highbrow and lowbrow

it feels like it's going to snow today. that would be cozy.
hope you're having a good one!
xoxo

and another

low light + not so great camera = blurry picture. but you get the idea. the ribbon doesn't match but whatever. i was thinking i could skate by on ribbon i have on hand, but i was wrong. pretty ribbon makes a difference here. this one is made w/all vintage plastic buttons. i've got the pretty green + blue buttons i parceled out yesterday, some "pearly" ones and then some real mother-of-pearl all organized and ready, so it might be a button wreath kind of week here.

still easing my way into the season. no decorations up yet, but i did order my christmas cards. if you're the printed photo card type, as i am, you might like this site (which is new to me). it has lots of cool designs and isn't too pricey.

i've got a few craft shows coming up, so i need to get busy.
happy tuesday, all!
xoxo