Owl Fever!

I feel I'm slightly obsessed with owls. They are EVERYwhere now! Home decor, children's bedding, crafting, holiday decor....everywhere. AND I LURVE IT!!!! A few of my favs....My sweet feathery white owl that I got 1/2 off as Christmas decor. SUPER cute...and he will stay out year-round!
My ADorABLE owl place mats for V-day. I got these last year at Target. They were the template and inspiration behind my 2nd sewing project on my new machine....
This owl pillow. OH I COULD EAT HIM!! no, not really...to fuzzy!

First Creations

After I got my new machine I was just dying to sew! Of course I had to start with something hard...you know me! I got this really cute pattern for ruffled capris off of Etsy at "The Sweetest Patterns". It was an easy PDF pattern that you just cut out the pattern and tape it on the red dots. Simple enough.

So I went to work...

Gathered my fabric. Got this CUTE combo at "Quiltworks" in Nichols Hills! Love it!! I think the smaller one is Amy Butler, but can't remember who the flower print was by.

Cut and taped my pdf pattern together...that was easy, thank goodness!Before I dare cut...I consulted my "Complete Photo Guide to Sewing" book (aka my sewing bible right now). Then I did it... Wish I would've taken pictures of all my steps, but I think I was so focused on not messing anything up that I totally forgot to. Anyhow..... here's the end result! I was very proud of my first item of clothing EVER! They even fit...no, not me... little Caroline from across the street!

My New Baby! tee hee hee

No, dont freak out! It's "just" my new sewing machine...Ms. Bernina 1006! Isn't she lovely!? I was really fortunate to have found her on Craigslist for $50.... YES $50... dollars. After a quick tune-up she was ready to go. It has been so much fun having her in my craft room. She really sews with such ease. I'm sure I will log many'a stitch on this beaut!

BlaGH!ging

Yes...I'm putting the BLAH in blahging! For whatever reason I have been MIA from my blog. I'm not sure if it was my "homemade Christmas", or Oklahoma blizzard of '09, a house full of guests that are snowed in for days (with me), or my craft room trying to go up in smoke....that had ANYthing to do with it...wink wink! I feel like after Thanksgiving is just a BLUR to me. Christmas shopping, planning, wrapping, hosting, etc...

As I went through pictures to try and figure out what i did in December, I came across a few projects that I did.

First I started on my "homemade Christmas"... Neighbor gifts...

1. Make your own .29 cent coasters!!

So for this project you just need 4 tiles from the hardware store. I got mine from Lowes for around $.29 each. I experimented with the white ceramic tiles, but I feel they are much too big and I like the rounded edges on the others better.

Make sure you wipe them off. They sure seemed dusty! You want your mod-podge to stick good.

Next, choose your favorite tissue paper (Hob Lob) has cute paper, and I bet Hallmark does too. Cut out 4 squares the size of your coasters.

Now apply a nice, even coat of Mod Podge on your coaster (we are doing one at a time here). Lay your square of tissue paper on the coaster starting at one end and lightly pat it down (don't rub too much, your paper will rip). There will be some wrinkling, but that's OK..it adds character.

As you can see, mine hung over the side a bit...it's ok, you can lightly sand it off with a downward motion.

Next, you will want to put another coat of mod podge on.

Do this for all 4 coasters!

After the first coat has dried, put about 2 more coats on!! I'm so frustrated with myself that i didn't take a "finished" picture! I'm bad about that. Trust me they were cute!! So for $2.66 ($1.16 for the coasters and $1.50 for the tissue paper) I made a great neighbor gift...but you can use them for b-day, house-warming, "thank you" or any gift you want!!

I have a few more things that took up time over the holidays that I will post about soon.

Lots of Christmas posting to do!!!