I finished my birdhouses!

If you look at my previous post, you will see pics of my birdhouses before they were felted and finished. It is a multi-step process to finish these little guys.

First thing after knitting them is to machine felt them. Then, I air dry them. Once dried, I get to see which of these I want to do additional needle felting on. I of course have to needle felt the "hole" in each of these. On a few of these, I added polka dots to the roofs. Then, I have to go out and gather the twig perch. Stuff with fiberfill. Add the ribbon to hang from.

And then, before I can do anything else, I have to take pics! Here they are. If you are interested, a few pair are for sale at http://www.thatissocute.etsy.com/

Knit One Felt Two (or more!)

The latest projects I've been working on are cell phone cozies and birdhouses. I know, they don't sound like they have much in common, but when they are both knitted and felted, they do!

When these are all finished, I'll add some "after" pics.

Happy New Year!

Wow - 2008 already! How many of you remember when we were all so worried about it turning the year 2000... so many were prepared for the worst...food stashed...cash stashed...computers reprogrammed...and so on.

So much easier now, isn't it?

So, have you made any resolutions? I haven't really made any...but I always have things I want to work on...

So, to hold myself accountable, here is a little list of thing for me to work on:
1) read the Bible this year - my daughters bought me a new Bible. It it in a read-it-in-one-year format and actually is put together as events happened - chronologically.
2) spend more time with my son - reading to him, playing games with him, etc.
3) put more effort into my Etsy store (and stock it better).
4) pay more attention to my diet
5) exercise.

whew, that's it for now. That's enough, I think!

Good luck to those of you who have made lists as well!

Birdhouses!

Ok, my sisters and I all decided a number of years ago that instead of buying for each other at Christmas, we would make something for each other instead. It's worked out great. It's so fun to see what everyone else has made. It fun trying to come up with an idea that no one has done yet.

Let me try to remember what I've made in the past...
- I painted floorcloths one year (when I look back now they were not very good!).
- I painted paper mache boxes - those turned out pretty good considering I knew very little about painting at the time. Let's see...they were all different: gingerbread man; mom & dad moose; and angel; a snowman.
- One year I did reverse glass paint on large glass platters - and they were Halloween pics!
- One year I knitted "wristies" - the are cuffs that slip over the hand and go under your coat sleeves - they keep the wind out.
- One year I painted on snow shovels - the "will work for snow" and snowmen...it was a bit of a challenge getting several of them to Florida - thank goodness one sister was driving to Florida that year and could take them with!!
- One year I did a variety of things...a put together a "sisters" CD with a collection of my fav; I made a couple of "bath teas"; and I can't remember tonight what else I did that year.
- One year I made the felted water bottle cozy I sell in my Etsy shop.

I think I'm missing a few year...if'when I remember I'll add that.

Which brings me back to the title of this post...birdhouses. This year I knitted/felted birdhouse ornaments. They turned out so cute. I also made a game out of painted dice.

I'm working on making more birdhouse ornaments and will put them in my shop once they are done. Please check them out!

My Josiah

My son Josiah is 4 years old. He keeps me young. He has so much energy it's amazing. And then he just runs out of energy and falls asleep. Like the time he fell asleep on top of his toybox... He still falls alseep often when we are driving somewhere, yet always wakes up as soon as we are there. Good thing, too, since he is one solid little boy and I can no longer carry him around.

This time of the year, he really enjoys looking through the various toy catalogs that arrive in the mail. "Mom - I want this" is a constant refrain in our house. He wants nearly everything he sees. Typical...

And I've joined the blogging nation...

Well, I've done it. I've gone and started a blog. Is this just like having a baby? I need to nurture it? feed it? take care of it? I think I can...

Let me start off my introducing myself to you. Sort of. I love crafting. I've got an online store at Etsy.com. I am going to blog here about the items I'm working on, the items I'm dreaming of doing. You may also get to pics of works in progress.

I love trying new things: scrapbooking, knitting, felting, painting (acrylics, glass, fabric, watercolor), jewlery-making and clay so far! I also love dreaming about new ways I can combine these mediums. As a result, you never know what you'll find in my store.

I came up with my store name because I knew I wanted to incorporate that phrase my sisters and I always use when we shop together: "That's so cute!" But in my store C.U.T.E. is an acronym that stands for:
Creative Unique Trendy Enticing

More on the family later as well!

My only regret is that there are so mamy
things to try and so little time in which to try them!