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Upcycle Old Magazines

I’m discovering new uses for all those old magazines that are collecting dust under my coffee table. One of the ideas I saw somewhere online at some point are these envelopes that I made for the handmade cards (previous post):

The envelopes are definitely cute, but there are so many other uses for these magazines as well. In fact, I didn’t think about how to wrap my sisters gift and I found an old birthday bag around the apt when cleaning, so I dropped it in there. I didn’t have any tissue paper, so I grabbed a few pages of the magazine, and glue them to together to make large pieces, and just then just used that as “tissue paper” filler for the bag.
You can also just cut out pieces from pages and use them to decorate cards instead of fabric as we did during craft day.
Just channel your inner school-aged child, and wa-lah! What’s old is new again.

Wine and Craft Nights

Anna and I have decided to have monthly wine and craft nights after our extraordinarily fun day of making cards last week. We sat down on the floor of my apartment and brought out all the goods: pretty fabrics, pretty scrapbooking paper, buttons, gemstones, glue, scissors, and pretty much anything and everything I own and can cut up and use. Anna made 4 gorgeous cards, and since I am slow and a crazy perfectionist, I only made 3. However, I can only post two of mine here right now as one was not given yet!

Here are Anna’s creations. The first one on the far left is a wedding card, the next is a birthday card, the one she is holding is a birthday card for her mom, and the last one is an engagement card:

Here are mine. On the left is my sister’s birthday card and on the right is my dad’s birthday card:

A Special Birthday Card

I made this recently for one of the most amazing people I have ever known. An incredibly genuine, kind, and compassionate person.. truly one of the most beautiful souls I have ever even just grazed the surface of.

Miss you, Froggy! :o)

Lulu & Coco Place Mats

Lulu and Coco now have their very own place mats.

Twinsy Love

These bibs were made with so much love for the sweetest, cutest, most laid back little chicken babies EVER. My niece and nephew twins! Bryce and Olivia were born to my cousin, Mita, on September 13, 2010. I finally got to meet them just a few weeks ago, and fell totally in love!! Twice over!


Another Card

Hand-sewn Cards

Got this wonderful idea from Rachel at Stitched in Color and even used her Christmas tree design, but added something different to it. The wedding cards are sewn with a monogram and a pocket in the inside to hold a check… And I printed all cards with my personalized logo on the back… yeah I know… it’s a little over the top, but that’s my favorite part!! haha..




Meet Oinky

Oinky is the new love of my life. Yes, he is. And yes, he is a he, and definitely not a she.
I met Oinky at Marshalls on the 30th and I immediately knew he was to be my new best friend. I’m not sure why, but I feel like Oinky is supposed to bring good luck. I have him on my coffee table facing the front door, so that anyone who walks in will be blessed by his dazzling jewels.
Oinky is also just a really great place to store my pennies (He is a piggy bank after all).

Hope you enjoy meeting Oinky as much as I enjoy his company. And I hope Oinky will bring you luck in 2011.

And now, I will leave you with a picture of Oinky’s adorable little tushy!

Happy New Year!!

Another Bag

Sorry for all the same day updates, but this is the last one for today.. I promise! I have just been so busy sewing, that I haven’t even really thought about updating the blog.

This is just a bag I decided to make. I put batting in it, but wish I hadn’t. I will probably make one soon without batting so it can be more hobo-ish and less old lady-ish. In the second picture, you can see my new label sewn onto the edge of one of the HUGE inside pockets I made. Speaking of which… I did that for a reason. I wish all my bags had huge separate compartments.. so I made it that way for myself. But this purse may have to be sold instead.. because I don’t want to use it! That depends on mom as she said she may be willing to use it in the spring. So we’ll see. :)

Kindle Case

Since Nate (my sister’s fiance) decided to steal my Christmas gift idea for my sister (well, not so much stealing as we both just had the same idea..) he geniusly suggested I make her a kindle case instead.

I first made one that turned out too small:

Then I made this one…

This one was the one I gave to her for Christmas (we had our Christmas a bit early due to the fact that she and my mom left for India today). This case was actually a little big. I quickly got to using my mother’s sewing machine to edge stitch the entire thing a second time around (not pictured here) in order to tighten up the case so the kindle could fit snugly. Regardless, it turned out great and the whole family loved it.
Added bonus: I got to stitch in my very first label… which made the whole family (and me too!) very very proud!!
Last year at this time, I began to sew, and I made my sister a terribly stitched little wallet. It was fun to see how far I have come this year… and I can’t wait to keep sewing and learning. Hopefully next year I will have something even greater to give her for Christmas.