Butterfly Series Gift Set

I started the plush butterfly yesterday after finding the pattern in my new Amy Butler “Little Stitches” Pattern book. I cut out another butterfly shape and appliqued it onto a lovie size piece of fabric, added some ribbon tags and backed it with super soft minky. I also added a stripe of minky to the butterfly middle. This set is so full of dimension and texture, I just LOVE it!

ArtPrize Downtown GR

Last weekend we visited downtown Grand Rapids. They have a worldwide art competition (ArtPrize) in progress with the winner taking home $250,000. I believe there was over 500 entries. For blocks and blocks there are tons of different kinds of art pieces scattered on the sidewalk, on the bridges, in the river, on the lawns, in the parking lots, in empty office buildings, on the wall of resturants.. you get the picture. You could spend days and have a hard time finding everything! Here are a couple of my favorites.

Burningmoon's Shopping Guide

She had tons of reviews and more to come. So check it out and get ready for Christmas shopping on Etsy!

Guess what I Got??!?!?

A couple weeks ago I read a blog (I for the life of me I cannot find it back!) that was oogling the Amy Butler “Little Stitches” Pattern Book (baby items). I already had $50 of rewards at Amazon.com so I looked it up and it looked scrumptious, along with “InStitches” (home decor patterns).  It was perfect and they didn’t even cost me anything, (technically yes, but…) ! I have already started the placemats, finished the cloth napkins and am half way done with the apron. I cannot wait to start on the baby things. The caterpillar is to die for!!!

Rockin' Blog!!

Boutique Stitches LOVES my BLOG!! Check her out. She has all sorts of reviews, giveaways, shop spotlights, and great ideas. Thank You Jeanette!

Fireflies and JellyBeans Blog Swap!

Hello- Spirit of Giving readers! I am so excited to be swapping blogs with this fun, and cute blog! Becky makes wonderful things-right?! Don't you just lover her personalized hoodie towels?! (I am so jealous of her embroidery machine)

Let me introduce myself:

I'm Fawnda from Fireflies and Jelly Beans, a little DIY craft blog I co-author with my best friend Jeannine!



Here is a little bit about me:
I am a SAHM (that is a stay-at-home-mom) to a son. I am married to most amazing man (sorry ladies- I found him first!) We adopted our son from Korea about 10 months ago! He is 19 months old and he is truly a joy and probably one of the cutest kids in the world (right along with yours!). I tutor High School Math students (Before I became a SAHM I was a math teacher).

I love to craft!

I rediscovered my sewing machine about 6 months ago and I love it! I also love to make cards. I am addicted to the scrapbook paper packs (They have a theme for everything! and I want them all! ) I am a pretty picky eater so I prefer to be the one who cooks!

My hobbies besides crafting include:

Reading - I just got done reading the twilight series and loved it! Some of my other favorite books are Harry Potter (all 7 of them!) The Time Travelers Wife (just saw the movie and LOVE it and sobbed at it!)The Princess Bride (Yes it was a book before the movie!)
Watching movies- and than quoting them! Some of my favorite movies are: The Princess Bride, Mr and Mrs Smith, Ocean's 11, Pride and Prejudice
Talking on the phone- I love it... I know I am weird!
Hanging out with my girlfriends -Who doesn't love that?!?!

I just opened an etsy shop: Funky Joy
Where I sell reusable snack bags, lunch bags and Auto trash bags. I am always adding more stuff so be sure to check often!
Check out the snack bags here.

Check out the lunch bags here.

Check out the car trash bags here.

Here are some of my favorite projects that I have done:
Fabric Covered Barrettes
Fall leaf table runner

place mat children's art smock

Reusable Lunch Bags.

I don't just sell them, I also show you how to make them! (I am nice like that!)
Reusable Snack Bags

Same with the Snack bags... Probably not the best marketing plan but I would rather have friends than money! : ) (although- if you would like to buy one that would be great too! Friends AND money is the best!)

A Frame Rehab
When you get a chance stop by Fireflies and Jelly Beans we have lots of fun tutorials, rehabs, recipes, and great ideas!

Thanks Becky for letting invade your blog today! It was so fun!

Birthday Treat Day!

We are bringing Matthew’s Birthday Treat to School today!! He is super excited too. We made these for about $1 per person and he has 11 kids in his class. Included Sidewalk Chalk from Hobby Lobby and pencil, Play-doh (fake brand), sucker, and treat bags from the Dollar Store. I used my new paper punch for the tags with the kids names on them. I also took along these Gifts in a Jar for the teacher and her helper.

P.S. Using Live Writer again today, It auto posts to Twitter every time I publish something . (BONUS!!) I can also switch between my blog and my husbands with just one click.  Oh, and you can pick if you want your picture inline, left wrapped, right text wrapped or center. (way easier than blogger)

Windows Live Writer

I found Windows Live Writer LInk from Fabric Creations and decided to give it a try! It seems pretty easy. I can do way cooler things with pictures. Here is the link to the download for Windows.If you have a Mac check out her site for other programs. Live Writer takes all of your info from your blog like colors and such so there is not much editing to do! I think I am going to like this. When I hyperlink it allows for a check box to open links in a new window LOVE THAT!! That way visitors can click away but not lose where they came from. I experimented with the photos and you can add tilting, watermarks, and entire photo albums. Each picture here has a different outline. I will have to monkey around with it for a while but I think it could be quite fun!! ok, UPDATE:: just posted and had to quickly delete it. When I tilt the pictures on this black background it shows a white square behind it. I don’t know if it can be fixed, but I will try. Thanks Crafty Mamma!   

 

 

 

 

Ribbon Lovie and Plush Block

A couple weeks ago I found this tutorial for a super cute lovie and a plush baby block at Moda Bake Shop. I finally got around to making it yesterday while the kids were taking a nap. I love how it turned out and can't wait to do another one. I also made a set of burp clothes so it is a nice gift set for a baby girl!

Greyson's Gift

Becuase I began my whole "Spirit of Giving" shop/blog etc based on the fact I needed to support my gift giving habits (and for the pure joy of it!), when I came across Greyson's Gifts blog I knew that I could not stop myself from giving. I just mailed the blankets out this morning. I ended up making 2 larger blankets and one smaller one. I used cute pastel baby fabric I already had and some very soft cotton chenille.

Silly Circus Washcloth Tutuorial

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the panel before I cut it apart but it was one of those fabric book panels. I cut out all of the "pages" into squares.

Then cut out a matching piece of terry cloth for the backing.

With right sides together, sew shut, leaving room to turn right side out. Clip corners.

Flip right side out, iron flat, close opening, and I did a wavy decorative stitch to reinforce the edges and give it a finished look.

Now you have a cotton/terry washcloth set with a story.
If you would like to see the individual pages, see my Flickr Silly Circus Photo Set

Etsy Pumpkin Patch Treasury!

I made my second Treasury and I absolutely LOVE the colors. Check out the cool shops and leave comments!

Included are:

*Beaded Pumpkin Pincushion from The Daily Pincushion

*12mm Jablonex Round Glass Pearl - Orange - 20 Pieces from LeCotillon

*Blown Red and Tangerine Striped Fluted Tealight Vase from wolfartglass

*fiesta inspired hand built porcelain tray & fiesta inspired hand built orange porcelain cup from clayswan

*3 Handmade Crochet Cotton Dishcloths from sunshinegrovefarm

*Etsy Love Button Mix from BauerDesigns

*Pressed AMBER and Antique brass earrings from nitskreations

*Eco Felt Flower Brooch, bright orange from lupin

*Funky Retro Style Kravet Chenille Decorative Pillow Geometric Multicolour 18x18 from PillowThrowDecor

*burnt orange spanish LEATHER cross-strap heels from 20twentyvintage

*Loofah Soap- All Natural Glycerin from southernalchemy

Jackpot Satuday!!!

I visited Hudsonville Fairgrounds Craft Show this morning. I have bought from this elderly gentleman before for the boys, (little cars and planes) and have seen these handmade doll beds and today I finally decided to get one. When we finally get around to buying a house and moving, I want to paint it and make bedding, but for now at least I have it! On the way home I stopped at a Church sale and found this embroidered dress/kimono type fro $.50 (yep fifty CENTS). I see a ton of potential in repurposing this, I will just have to wait for a super good idea!
At the church sale, I also got all of these random craft supplies for $2.00! I am sure they will go into my craft supply tote but someday I may really find a good use for them. The prices were too good to pass up!

From the craft show I got a stack of business cards, all with websites, a lot with etsy shops. I cannot wait to check out the local artist and maybe do some shop reviews/spotlight of the local etsians!

I went to the craft show with the intention of buying hairbows for Tressa, but when it came right down to it, I couldn't spent the $6-7 on a set so I passed and I will have another go at it myself. Tressa really needs some brown and black to match her winter clothes. Well, I had a wonderful morning, Grandpa took Matthew so I only have two kids at home. I already made Brownie Icecream Cake this morning to take to friends' house tonight sooo... Now, TO IRONING!!

A True OOAK!!

I got the idea from the sample quilt at the fabric store using the flowers in the fabric, cut out and appliqued on the quilt top. I of course addapted it to towels, becuase towels are what I DO! I hand cut the flowers out, fused them on the towel and hand stitched around all of them. I also added a lime polkadot bow for some dimension. I plan to put it in my etsy shop soon and if it doesn't sell by craft show time, it will be there!

New Product!

Inspired by my sister who just started cosmetology school, I found on my HUGE cd of embroidery designs a comb/scissor combo. I made it into a cute embroidered hand towel either for personal use or to accessorize a salon. I can make it in any color combination to match a bathroom or home salon.

TuTu Couture!!

Couture: Couture fashion is considered the height of fashion elegance. Thus TuTu Couture must be the height of fashion elegance for babies! I origionally learned how to make tutus from this tutorial on YouTube. I absolutely love making super girly things so when a former neighbor called up and asked me to make a couple for her girls for their pictures, of course I said YES! We went with hot pink and I added daisies which I first took apart and redid the center (they were yellow and it stuck out like a sore thumb) I just bunched a piece of tule up, added a bead and sewed them all together. In most tutorials it says to use four yards but I figure, if you are going to wear a tutu, you MUST go all the way so I use any were between 8 and 10 yards per tutu. I have it tied with a wide satin bow and made some matching hair clips with the same flowers. Maybe a little large for everyday hair wear but seriously, you are wearing a huge poof of tule, you can get away with a little larger hair accessory! If you have a little girl or know someone who does, you HAVE TO TRY THIS. It pretty much only requires a scissors and some knowledge of a slipknot!

Greyson's Gift

Another site I came across over the last week is making baby blankets super small for the tiny babies that do not make it. She has a very special story and is now working to collect blanket for Arlington Medical Center and then move on to different hospitals. Chekck out her site and make a blanket!