Craft-a-holic - Half Apron with Ruffle Trim

My fellow crafty addicts, I cannot be the only one who has ever wanted to make a super cute vintage-inspired apron, right? So after scowering the vast internet, I found an easy project on one of my favorite craft blogs, Grosgrain.


I can't wait to try it out! Especially now that I have some great new embroidery patterns added to my stash!

My First Love

One of my earliest memories, besides playing with my giant Optimus Prime transformer, is having a crayon in my hand pretty much all the time. It was like an extension of my hand or fingers. Even as I got older, when ever I was bored or feeling a bit twitchy, I would pick up a pencil or marker and start drawing. After struggling to find my niche - I could never really get the realistic groove going - in manga and comic style, I became even more attached to the art form. I spent several years learning to translate my love of drawing into the digital world and became quite awesome ;) with photoshop and using a pen tablet.

After writing my first Graphic Obsession post, I was asked to show some of my art, so here it is kids!



a character I was working on for a comic that never came to be





two separate characters for comics I would like to do sometime...maybe...

I have a lot more scattered around, but these are my favs and some of my best work. I can only hope to get better and maybe someday, I will be lucky enough to have someone ogle my work. And, yes, I like chics with guns. Dunno why...

Craft-a-Holic - Felt Matryoshka Dolls

Good afternoon my fellow crafty addicts!!!


One can never go wrong with making felt toys. Especially ones that are beautiful, colorful dolls!

Matryoshka Dolls are Russian nesting dolls and I have always loved to unique and lovely designs.

The great thing about this tutorial is how customizable it is. You can decorate your doll how ever you want!


SnipSnappy Tutorial

Etsy Shop: July Updates

I have been quite the busy crafty bee lately (i.e. more crafting, less blogging. sorry guys!) and finally updated my Etsy Shop with tons of new goodies (and some old ones that never got listed. oops!)



Hair Bows (as seen in a previous post)

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Bunny Pal Chew Buddy - made with organic terry cloth

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two new hand bags made with super cute summery fruit fabric

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Upcycled crayons (love the skull molds, so punk rawk!)

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And a lot of other stuff too! So go check it out!

More stuff coming next month. My head has been overflowing with inspiration lately!

Craft-a-holic - Craft Academy!!!

Good morning craft-a-holics! I have found something that is truely worth blogging about.



Craft Academy!!!


Two of my fellow Etsy Austin team members, Renee Rice & AJ Kosarek started Craft Academy a few months ago, and I knew I had to sign up. Not only do I get super awesome crafty projects like the ones I did for M's 2nd birthday and video instructions (how cool is that?!?!), but I also get to meet fellow craft junkies! What they have put together is something really quite wonderful.

Summer session is closed, but you all gotta check out the fall sesh. It's gonna be sweet!

Scraptastic!

I am a pack rat with crafty stuff. I will constantly buy fabric or yarn or pretty much anything without a project in mind. It's a compulsion I think - part of my crafty addiction. But alas, I have recently discovered a fantastic solution that is as easy as it is freakin cute!



I am a total sucker for hair accessories. In fact I bought an adorable headband for M this weekend when I told myself I wouldn't (whoops!). I love barrettes and clips and the like. So naturally, I knew I would be making a ton of the fabric bows when I found the instructions on-line. Best part? I made all five in about 3 hrs. Including waiting for the glue to dry! I can pretty much promise you will be seeing a lot of these in my Etsy shop!

Birthdays and Crafty Love

July 1st, 2008 at 8:05 pm, I gave birth to an 8lb wrinkled crying little baby girl. Ever since then, being a mom has completely changed my life and I am a better person because of it. Yesterday, we celebrated M's 2nd birthday with the Austin family. It was a long, exhausting, wonderful day, and I am a little sad to see my baby quickly growing up. But being me, and having some fantastic inspiration from my Craft Academy classes, I made some really great things to make her party extra special!


One of the classes was a special 4th of July party pack that had some wonderful crafty ideas to throw a great summer party. One project in particular was Cupcake Ice Cream Cones. I can't think of anything better for a little girl's birthday!




I used a white cake recipe and gel food coloring to tint the batter bright rainbow colors. The rest...well, it's confidential. ;}

I decided to be sneaky and top the cupcake cones with actual ice cream, cause you can't have cake without ice cream! It also served as a great candle holder!



Another class was how to make a fabric banner. I customized mine with ribbon and some pretty cherry fabric.



It turned out so freakin' cute and was deffinately a hi-lite of the party.

I hope every year I can do something special for my baby. Because, well, how could i not want to make a wonderful birth day for this cutie?!?

Craft-a-Holic - The Motherload

I admit, I spent a lot of time perusing the interweb for crafty blogs, tutorials, patterns, goodies, etc. In the past, I had stumbled across this site on one of my many fabric hunts and ogled the pretty prints likes some hormonal boy. But I was unaware of the goodness that lay within the coded pages.



When I realized how many projects and tutorials were on the Purl Soho's blog, I nearly cried. In the knitting category alone, there are at least 50 posts and most of them have the pattern listed for free. I know that I am truly a lost cause now.

Thank you Purlbee for hooking me up with the primo stuff.

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The Purl Bee Blog

Craft-a-holic - Finger Puppets & Summer Skirts

Good day all you crafty addicts! I have found some new wonderful projects for your itchy fingers.

Felt Animal Friends -



I adore these tiny little animal finger puppets! OMG, I could just make a ton of them if I didn't have other things to do. I have already made the little lamb for M and have started the squirrel for a friend who is expecting. They are super easy to make (tho I don't suggest hand stitching. I did and it doesn't work well with the small seam allowance).



And yet, another thing to make for M. Basically, anything I want to make is usually for her, but I will make an effort to start looking for non-kid things. But I'm pretty sure the directions are easy enough to turn into an adult version!

Happy Crafting!

Felted Friends

So my newest crafty obsession is felted things. I have spent hours drooling over some amazing and beautiful felted crafts. Inspired by it all, I gave it a try and made a little something for my small person.



M is totally into cutesy animals and loves to play pretend with them, so I know she will flip when she sees the bunny friend I made for her (she is currently sacked out for the evening, so no cute pics).

Now, I've got so many little ideas floating around in my head that I will prolly have a hard time falling asleep tonight. Maybe a panda and kitty design tomorrow? I'm thinking that it would even make an awesome DIY kit for folks, but that will come later (it's a sercret! you'll just have to stick around to find out!).

Pretty Knits

My new crafty obsession is knitting. I really love it, even though I had a tough time getting the hang of it. But after a few weeks and many, many (soooo many) attempts, I have a new set of pretty spring accessories!



I used some super soft bamboo/wool mix yarn to make the bracelet and headband. The color is just lovely and totally reminded me of all the new leaves budding out on all our trees in the yard.

For anyone who knits, the patterns are very easy - like ridiculously easy. Both are done with your basic knit stitch on a US 8 needle.


To make the bracelet, cast on 4 stitches and knit/garter stitch, slipping the first as if to purl for nice edges, until it is long enough to fit around your wrist. Graft the two ends together and sew on a pretty button! Or if you are feeling extra creative, sew in some embroidery thread to make pretty decorations.



The headband is made exactly the same way, except you cast on 10 stitches instead of 4 and you make it the length of your head - not your wrist.. Graft ends together, and you are done!

Green thumb?

Meet my new obsession. Succulents. I just really think they are so awesome and very unique. One of C's friends gave me a sproutlette from her own garden as a housewarming gift and I was hooked. I have since then acquired two more little plants and want to build it into a large lush beautiful succulent garden.

They are very easy to take care of. Leave them in the sunlight (my little pot sits on the window sill over the sink in the kitchen) and water sporadically - every 3-4 days. There are tons of different varieties, so just head on over to Lowes (or where ever) and spend some time in the garden section. The smaller ones - like mine - are super cheap.

Aeonium-----Kiwi Aeonium-----Jade Plant

I love fabric shopping

Really, it's a very fun way to spend C's money. If I was wealthy, I would have bolts just stockpiled around the house. There are a couple of places online that I am a regular customer. One in particular is Fabric Supplies on Etsy. (fabricsupplies.etsy.com) They have one of the biggest selections of designer and Japanese import fabrics, I have ever found. And they are super speedy shippers, which is very cool for antsy people like me. I found some really awesome prints that will be turned into bags for my etsy shop (happybuddha.etsy.com - shameless plug), and a really cute Japanese print that i am gonna make into a dress for M.

Not sure what i am gonna make yet, but it is sure to be cute! I will prolly put a pattern how-to and pics along the way.