Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas/assorted holidays and have something fun planned for tonight! We will be having a few friends over for games, 'international' themed party foods, and perhaps a movie.

I actually caught a bad cold the day after Christmas & have been laying around the house the last few days like a slug. But it has just about cleared up now, and I'm ready to share a few things I made for Christmas gifts!

First, for my mother and her parents, I made 2 fabric baskets ~ the kind where you wrap fabric strips around a cord (cotton clothesline) and zig-zag stitch the whole thing together. I'd seen a few of these before and wanted to try one. They seem pretty simple, and I already have a ton of small fabric strips left over from my sewing days (when I was also trying to crochet with them). One day mom showed up with a book she had just bought on those exact baskets/bowls, and let me borrow it after seeing how interested I was.

Fabric Basket - Blue, Purple & Green

I was in such a hurry to get everything done before we headed out of town Christmas Eve Eve that I only had a chance to snap some quick pictures & hope for the best. I'll have to get some better photos of the smaller brown basket while I still have it this next week, and I'm sure the blue one will be dropping by again with mom during a future visit (the colors are so much prettier in person!). But for now ~

Fabric Baskets

The baskets really are simple to make, and you can find a good tutorial online here. Mom's book was useful for a few tips, but the majority of it was photos & diagrams for different variations, and I ended up liking my two baskets way better than any of the creations in there. Maybe I'm just biased.

I made the blue, purple & green basket large enough for mom to fill with yarn or fabric scraps; it's probably close to 1/2 yard wide. I wanted to make the brown basket even smaller, but to curve back in they have to be at least wide enough to fit over the top of your machine, and this one was snug. Later on I'd like to make another one for myself in red, orange, yellow & purple, but for now we need to re-coop from Christmas a bit!

One more gift to share, but that is for another post...

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wrapping things up

Sometimes I feel like pretty wrapping...
Damask & Snowflakes

But sometimes nothing beats good ol' tacky Christmas cat paper....
Tacky Cat Wrapping

I am having so much fun with the word bubble gift tags I threw together!

Speaking of cute cats, we picked up these Hello Kitty walkie talkies for my nieces. I'm not usually a fan of super-girly-pink stuff, and have never been too interested in Sanrio, but I was tempted to keep these! I think the small size is what won me over.

Sanrio walkie talkies

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Ambigram Drop

"Simon" & "Jennifer" Ambigram

"Simon" & "Jennifer" Ambigram


"Hatred" & "Weight" Ambigram

"Hatred" & "Weight" Ambigram Sketch


"Birdie" Ambigram

"Birdie" Ambigram


"Robert Nowak" Ambigram

"Robert Nowak" Ambigram


"Gaudet" & "Overturf" Ambigram

"Gaudet" & "Overturf" Ambigram


"Gaudet" Ambigram

"Gaudet" Ambigram


"José" & "Nory" Ambigram

"José" & "Nory" Ambigram


"Alex Molly" & "Christian" Ambigram

"Alex Molly" & "Christian" Ambigram

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Bendzunas Glass

Last weekend we visited Justin's parents, who we hadn't had a chance to see for Thanksgiving and birthdays. On Sunday we all took a day trip to Athens, where the majority of his siblings live, to check out an open house and demonstration at Benzunas Glass. This was also a chance to meet the boyfriend of Justin's oldest sister, who works at the studio with his family.

As tired as we were from yet-another car ride, it was quite a treat to watch them shape a cup and a flowered paperweight. We picked out this abstract tree design for my mom (prettier in person) ~

Glass Paper Weight

And his sister surprised us with a set of beautiful oil lamps for our birthdays ~

Glass Oil Lamps

We also had a chance to visit two of the siblings' new dwellings before the long, long ride back home. Not a bad little trip!

Right now I am feeling pretty contented because we finally have the majority of our Christmas shopping done. Ahhhh... Two weeks ago that seemed like an insurmountable kind of goal, but I've had a whirlwind of orders coming in lately that took care of everything. Now there are just a few last-minute things to grab or make, and of course a ton of ambigrams to create, but I can't wait to be able to give everyone their gifts!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Ambigram Drop


"Darron" & "Matthew" Ambigram

"Darron" & "Matthew" Ambigram


"Tom Koukoulis" &
"α. κουκούλης" Ambigram

(his name in English and in Greek)

"Tom Koukoulis" & "α. κουκούλης" Ambigram


"The Past is Practice" Ambigram

"The Past is Practice" Ambigram


"Knight Network Security" Ambigram

"Knight Network Security" Ambigram


"Dawn" & "Brian" Ambigram

"Dawn" & "Brian" Ambigram


"Familia Ante Ceteros" Ambigram
("Family before all others". Not sure which language)

"Familia Ante Ceteros" Ambigram


"Family" & "Friends" Ambigram

"Family" & "Friends" Ambigram


"Forever" & "Always" Ambigram

"Forever" & "Always" Ambigram

Friday, December 4, 2009

Skeleton Key fabric doll

Look at this cute doll that Wendy Kay made with my Skeleton Key fabric!

Skeleton Key fabric doll

Skeleton Key fabric doll

I'm so excited, this is my first customer picture from the fabrics. Here's hoping there will be many more! Now I just need to get printing....