Whew!

The Christmas Crafting is starting to get to me! I've got about 15 projects and 2 days to get them all done...oops! I think I can manage most of them...

First off - the PJ's for my cousins
A - helicopter pants with a black shirt with helicopter applique. I have A's pants completely finished, and the helicopter applique is on the wonder-under and just needs to be applied to the shirt.
L - Purple princess pants with a white shirt with a crown applique. Pants, not done :-( Applique is ready to be put on the shirt.
R - Monkey pant with a red shirt with initial applique. Pants - done! Applique not ready :-(

These are the projects on my to-do list for this evening. I am also knitting mittens and wrist warmers for all the girls in my family and I don't think I'm going to finish this in a timely manner :-( But I've got some nice fleece that I could sew up a couple of pair quick if needed :-) So that might be the perfect solution!

Merry Christmas to all of you! And wish me luck finishing my Christmas Crafts!

Sharing Ideas

My cousin called me a while ago and offered me a great idea for my etsy store. B is a runner and she was looking for something to keep her ID, keys and some cash in that didn't involve having anything around her waist. She saw a cute wrist wallet in a catalog and she wanted one, but she thought she'd see if I could do it before she bought one. I've done some research on them and found several different types, sizes and materials. I think that I can do something similar, so now it's just a matter of finding the right fabric. I can't wait to give it a shot and see how it comes out!

Etsy store is live now!

I finally got my etsy store up and running...have yet to sell anything, but I've gotten some views on my items! I'm excited, can't wait to actually sell something :-) I still have more items to get up, including tie purses, more coffee cozies, checkbook covers, purse organizers, finger tip oven mitts and more! check it out at www.radiantgirlcrafts.etsy.com!

Big News!

I am doing my first craft show this weekend. I am worried about everything, I've over analyzed every stitch of every item. Stayed up late working on new items, worried about those. In general I've driven myself INSANE! So tomorrow's the big day! I've got casserole trivets, coffee cozies, checkbook covers, tote bags, finger tip oven mitts and much more!

Also, my etsy store will go live on Saturday (tomorrow!) following the craft fair! Not sure I'm ready for that either, but here goes nothing.

I still have a pile of things to do today, and I'd love to finish a few more items for tomorrow, but we'll have to see what happens after work today...darn work, keeping me from my craft fair to do list! Wish me luck tomorrow! Check back tomorrow for pictures from the craft show!

Sister Give-a-way!

The Dizzy Daisy Quilt Shoppe is now open! Celebrate their grand opening by entering their give a way here!

Fabric Give-a-way!

In honor of her new online store Flannel Queen is hosting a fabulous giveaway with 2 prizes! Check out her blog for contest details, prizes and how to enter! Good Luck!

Apologies and cute doggie pictures

Sorry to have been away so long, life has been crazy. My dog developed some separation anxiety while we were gone on vacation and has been very needy lately. Just this week she is finally feeling comfortable at home and back to herself - Yay! So as a reward for being patient with me - here's a cute picture of her :-)


Also, I have been working on some new projects, I don't have all of them photographed yet, but as soon as I do, I'll get them up. However, they include pj pants for my sister, coffee cozies to sell on etsy, pillowcase tote bags to sell on etsy and much more! I'm so excited! Here's the cup cozy I made for myself, I apologize for the half assed picture :-) I got a ton of compliments on it Wednesday night at youth group. One person even told me it was craft show worthy! Etsy here I come!

Nearly choked on a pretzel...

when I read that I had won the Sisterscrap Welcome Back Giveaway. Thanks Sisterscrap! Here's a picture of the fabulous box of fun!

Birthday Give-a-way

Jannypie Crafts is celebrating her 2nd Blog Birthday with a give-a-way. Check it out here. Good Luck!

First Craft Fair

I was browsing through the newspaper classifieds this afternoon in search of a job (not that there are many to be found!) and what I did find was an ad looking for vendors at a local craft fair in November. There was not a ton of info about the craft fair, except date, time and location, but I sent off an email to find out more about it...now I'm nervous! I'm trying to break into selling my crafts both at craft fairs and online, so this could be an opportunity for me to get working on that :-) I hope I hear back from them soon!

Farve Update

I'm starting to feel less venomous towards Farve and the MN Vikings...it appears he can actually play. However we will reserve total judgment on this issue until the end of the season, but I'm starting to like what I see...and it scares me just a little :-) I'd really like to see the Viking not tank this season!

Vacation Yay!

I'm back from a fabulous week of vacation! Lots of sun, family and fun activities - including shopping of course :-) TONS of pic to upload, laundry to do and of course crafts to catch up on! Good thing I still have another weekend before it's back to work! Here's a quick recap with pictures!

First a Trip to the Forest History Center and back in time to the winter of 1900, when white pine logging was prime in Northern MN.
Then a trip to the Chippewa National Forest's Lost Forty, 144 acres of land that was incorrectly surveyed during the height of the logging period, this land has never been logged. Here's Jon and I with a 350 year old White Pine - we couldn't get our arms all the way around it.

Lastly a trip to the Hill Annex Mine to learn about the Mining of Iron Ore.

Really? Farve?

I want to like you I really do, but I feel as though you are playing your fans and the fans of the MN Vikings! Are you going to play for more than a year? You've retired twice already!! I hope that you can help the Vikings pull it together and win this year, but skipping training camp does not make you a team player!

So Excited!

I'm so excited that I won first prize on Golden Apple's give away! I got to choose from 4 fabulous prizes. I went with the sock knitting kit :-) I can't wait to get it and start knitting! Thanks Golden Apples and congratulations on your blogiversary!

Fishing Trip

My husband loves to fish, so I reluctantly agreed to go fishing last Saturday. We took my friend Krista and met up with another friend, Jay near his family cabin on Clear Lake. We did catch a few fish, although no keepers and I took about 500 pictures and overall it was a good day! It was windy and a little cold, so we wore long sleeves and shorts and braved the wind from shore.

I convinced my hubby that we should bring our dog, Sierra. She doesn't love fishing, but she did have a great time running around the public landings we fished from. Here's a few pictures from our trip.

My Crappie

Jon's Northern

Krista's tiny Bluegill

Jay's Crappie

Sierra "supervising" the fishing

Why I shouldn't be allowed to used Super Glue

I've recently discovered Swap-bot, a website where you can sign up for swaps of all kinds of items. Sounds fun right? Yup, I got to send my first international package the other day - to Chile! I participated in an Orange Craft swap, we traded a list of specific crafts items that are orange in color. After I finished collecting the items I needed to complete the swap - complete with making these cute notecards, I decided to send a little extra to my swap partner and started working on some cute flower hair clips, first I made a pair of pink binders with pearls beads in the center, then I started on an orange flower clip. I didn't want the clip to fall apart so I used some super glue...and ended up gluing most of my fingers to the hair clip - whoops! I managed to get my fingers unglued and I got the hair clip put together, it turned out well. And while I think that super glue will hold better than hot glue, next time I'll stick to the glue gun :-) Here's a picture of my complete hair binders and clips.

Give A-Way on Embelished Bayou

Check out her blog at http://www.embellishedbayou.blogspot.com to enter! Also check out her Etsy store for fun frames, wall/door hangings, handmade soaps and much more! Beautiful work and fantastic ideas for other projects in her blog!

Math...ugh

I've spent the better part of today with my nose buried in some financial reports trying to figure out exactly how to read them and how to voucher money...yucky. This is why I generally stick to answering the phone...because it doesn't involve math! I am terribly afraid that my math is going to end up like this...(I hope it doesn't!)

One productive hour

Yesterday was a dog day here in the radiantgirl house, first we took our cocker spaniel for a ride in the car with her new seatbelt harness, which she didn't love but it wasn't too bad either. We stopped at a garage sale and scored her a "new" crate for $5. I made a deal with my husband that if he cleaned up the crate, I would give the dog a bath! So in one hour with a little help from my husband, I not only gave Sierra a bath, but we gave my parents two dogs bath, Maggie and Sugar. Here's a picture of our less than perfect, but clean dogs.

Finally, finished some projects...

Ok, really just one project, but I'm nearly done with a second AND I think I might have solved some of my sewing machine problems! yay! I finished the dolls I was embroidering, they turned out great and I'm super excited to use them in my etsy logo.

I'm working on embroidering a pair of pillowcases, they are adorable and I might just have to keep them for myself :-) I'm nearly finished the first one, and then I'll get started on the second one. Embroidery is a great travel project for me, I can work on it in the car, it doesn't take up too much space to carry around with me, I'm loving it!

I took the throat plate off my sewing machine last night and cleaned the feed dogs and everything else under the throat plate, which has mostly helped my issues with stitch length, I'm still have some trouble with upper thread breakage, I'm going to try some different needles today, I also changed the presser foot to a universal foot, since my zigzag foot has a little chip that may be causing the breakage. I am also considering replacing the throat plate because of a chip, which could also be causing the breakage. So, my sewing is not moving along the way I'd like it to be, but we have made some progress. I'm working on a couple of tote bags made from pillow cases and I finally got a pair of handles put together. The bag itself is still causing some problems, so we'll work on that again tonight and see what we can get done. I've got a ton of laundry to do from my thrift store purchases, so I'm going to try to get most of that done tonight too. I'm excited to get some stuff listed on etsy, so I need to keep working on getting everything done.

should be sleeping...

but I can't seem to get comfy and fall asleep. So instead, I'm trying to be productive...looking for a job, putting together my etsy store, playing on facebook, and of course finding new projects to add to my ever growing list of want-t0-make-someday projects! Be looking for my etsy store in the next few days, there will also be a fan page on facebook and I'd love it if you checked them both out!

Current project

I've spent most of the morning working on things for my etsy store...and making purchases :-) I can never resist Etsy! But I'm also working on some embroidery. In general I hate any hand sewing work and will always choose the sewing machine over hand work, however, embroidery is different somehow, I can see the result and it looks super cool. I'm working on some little dolls that I think are going to be my shop logo. I can't wait to finish them and take some photographs. But for now here's a quick photo of the work in progress.

blog claim!

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*yells loudly* aaaaaahhhhhrrrrggggg!

The job market sucks. I cannot afford my crafting habits without a job and I'm on the verge of losing a third job in a year. First, the camp I had been with for 5 year eliminated my position, then the church I was with closed and now the specialty store I've been working at is looking like it's going to close too. I'm very frustrated to be in this position yet again. I simply cannot afford not to work. I do still have one part time job, but it doesn't pay enough on it's own. I am contemplating opening at etsy store, but I know that it will be awhile before I actually make any money doing that. I've got a decent stash of fabric to work through, but it's hard to resist when you find cute stuff :-) Krista and I went to the thrift store yesterday and we found a bunch of cute stuff. Krista is working on making a bag out of men's ties, so we were looking for semi-matching ones of the same size. I picked one tie, which I'm going to make myself a bracelet out of and possibly a collar for my dog - no, not because I want us to match, but because I didn't want to buy two ties! We were being thrifty! My family think I'm crazy for only getting one tie, so my husband offered me some of his so that Sierra and I didn't have to match. I didn't take pictures of any of our fabulous thrift finds, but here's one of my dog instead :-)

PS she's looking cuter now that she's had a haircut.

I'm claming my blog at technorati

29sax75njr

A Sad Sewing Machine Story...and some new craft pursuits

My (ok, mom's) sewing machine is not playing nicely...I think it needs a trip to the sewing machine hospital, boo :-( I'm very sad. I've got a huge list of projects that I'm working on and I'm just not sure what to do with my time if I'm not sewing! This is a great machine - nearly as old as I am, but well made and very sturdy, just needs some tuning up. (PS this is not actually my machine...I found this pic thanks to Google images)

I've found a couple of knitting projects that I want to try...this adorable knitted frog. I also am working on a purse for my cousin...I blogged about this purse project nearly a year ago *blushes* and I haven't finished either of them yet, so I'll be working on O's bag too.

Inspired by this post from Craft Nectar, I've been thinking about trying to tackle embroidery next...This morning I was at Ben Franklin, a funky craft/school/office supplies, nick-nacks, etc kinda store admiring the embroidery patterns...but I couldn't pick one and the hubs was getting impaitent waiting for me. I was thinking embroidery is a project I could work on in the car, one that could be put down and picked up any time, that I could do while still carrying on a conversation (which is not alway true of knitting). But now I think I need one of these...courtesy of Craftzine.

Fabulous Crafty watches giveway...

Sorry, not here. But check out Make It and Love It. For a giveaway from Kendee Watches!

Quick and Easy...

With all the running around I've been doing this summer, I've gotten tired of trying to lug my purse full of junk, my calendar, phone and materials for whatever meeting/project/activity I'm headed too. And since changing jobs, I've downsized the number of keys I carry to ONE! So I whipped myself up this little key fob wallet using some scraps I had laying around. I used my drivers license as a template for the size and made it like the other pouches I've been making, adding a ribbon loop to attach my keys too. This little gem keeps me in one bag instead of a bag and my purse AND I haven't lost it or my car keys because they are always together - PERFECT!

some projects I want to try

Everyday I log onto my Google Reader and start through the new craft blog entries and find tons of projects I'd like to try, so I thought I'd share a few here. But first, here's a few of my favorite blogs to read...One Pretty Thing, CRAFT, and Craft Gossip.

Now on to the projects I'd like to attempt! Here are just a few from a very long list...
Market tote - I already have fabric picked out to make 4, I just need to get up the guts to try it out!
Little Girl's Purse - I just love this cute little purse, I'd like to try a larger sized one too, because even Big Girl's need cute purses!
Knitted Mug Cozy - Mostly I just want to learn to knit cables, and this seems like a quick and easy summer project, something I can knit in the car while my hubby and I are commuting to work!
Fun Wall Pocket - because everyone's got junk that needs a home and what a cute one this is!

One long week...

All week, I've been at church doing Vacation Bible School and I'm exhausted! I spent the week with ten 4 and 5 year olds, we learned 5 new Bible stories, a bunch of new songs and rules and manners and we did a ton of craft projects and served other people! It was a fabulously tiring week, but I'm so glad I was there. It was hot here, but VBS was a great way to spend some time outside! Hoping it's nice enough over the weekend to get out on the boat!

No pictures today because I gave my memory card to one of the other leaders so they could make a slide show for worship on Sunday morning!

Oh How I've missed you...

Sewing machine! I've been away from my sewing machine for several days and I've really missed sewing. I threw together a project last night, but I wanted to tell you about where I've been and what I've been doing, that's not sewing. Hubby and I took a road trip to South Dakota last weekend with his sister Kim. We visited White, SD to attend their brother's wedding. So a big congrats to Lori and Adriel! It was a fabulously sweet wedding. Adriel is an excellent singer and he took the opportunity to sing to his bride and it was beautiful - had everyone in the room crying! I also finally got to meet my nephew, Jayson - who is a doll and my new favorite nephew...Ok, he's my only nephew :-) Here's a couple of pictures from the wedding, my camera batteries died right after the ceremony, so no pictures from the reception - not even any pictures of Jon and I.

I love tutorials!

I am not a girly girl at all, but being a (mostly) working woman requires that I slap on some make up once and a while. But since I don't wear it everyday, I keep my small stash of make up in a small make up bag in my purse (then I always have it for quick needs) But I was having trouble finding a make up bad that was long enough for the eye shadow brush I use. The bristles of the brush were always bent and hard to use. The solution to my problem came thanks to One Pretty Thing and their Daily DIY posts full of great tutorials for fun projects. I found this great tutorial for a Little Pouch on Uber Crafter. I made several of my own, perfect for make up, sunglasses, even business cards! Here's a few pictures of my make up bag. It's a little floppy, I think if I make more I'll use a little interfacing to give the bag some umph to stand up on it's own. For the ones I already made I plan to iron them with some starch and see if that helps. Sorry for the weird pictures, I took them in the car this morning after I put on my make-up. Thanks to my hubby for driving the carpool everyday so I can apply make up in the car :-)

A favorite project

At my house, we frequently get our glassware confused...well, mostly my dad just swipes the closest glass and claims it's his, leaving the rest of us wonder which glass really is ours. We pondered this for a while, trying to decide what would be the best way to distinguish our glassware...and finally decided on the glass cozy, similar to the coffee cozy. Using this tutorial from the Object Project, I created the glass cozy. I chose a distinctive fabric for each person in the family...the ones you see pictured to the right are mine (purple), Mom's (yellow) and my sisters (pink). And while Mom threatens to steal my purple one, they are working out great so far. Not pictures are the ones that belong to my Dad (hunter orange) and my hubby (red with cowboy stuff). I also have fabric picked out for my brother (camo). With all the fabric in my stash you'd think I could come up with something for my sister in law, but I'm just not sure yet. I also need something for Laura's boyfriend. I'm sure that I will find just the thing for each of them in time.

Thanks to The Object Project for the great tutorial! In case you are interested in making your own glass cozies, here are some modifications I made to the tutorial from The Object Project. I used quilter's cotton, and I did not line it. After a trip to Caribou Coffee, I made a copy of the paper coffee sleeve, enlarging it to 125%. I had to trim the ends of the copy to about 1/2 and inch longer than the original sleeve as the enlargement made the sleeve much longer than needed. I used this copy as my pattern to get the shape of the cozy correct. Also instead of using velcro, I pinned and stitched my cozies together, as we needed to slide them up the glass to get them tight enough to stay on. I used my machine to stich them together and it was quite difficult because the circle is smaller on one side than the other, but I dispise hand sewing :-) Also, as you can tell, I skipped the photo frame. I think they turned out great! And we are all excited to be able to identify our drinking glasses!

crafty girl sucess!

After much frustration, some choice words and several pin pricks, I have sucessfully completed a wonderful array of sewing projects that I'm excited to announce! Thanks to Betz White at Betz White, I completed two tank tops for my sister, inspired by her pillow case tank. My sister is quite a fashionista and her wardrobe does not include vintage anything, so I made the tanks with some cute fabric I found on sale at Joann Fabrics. I thought they turned out quite well. However I was in such a rush to finish them before we went out for supper for Laura's birthday, I completely forgot to take pictures.

I also completed the Martha Stewart Terry Cloth Caddy as seen in the post below. This project was the cause of most of my frustration! Sewing the towel was just not going well, my thread kept breaking, my towel kept getting stuck in the sewing machine feed, it was awful! But a surprise phone call from a friend and fellow youth worker led to a solution - adjusting the tension of the thread. Once I adjusted the tension, all was well and I completed my projected almost immediately.

So sorry for another post with no pictures - I'll do better next time!
Keep Crafting!

started some sewing projects!

I am on a mission to only make gifts for my sister's upcoming birthday. She is turning twenty and just moved into a house near her college campus, so I've got tons of potential projects!

Starting with a shower curtain, remember those bed sheet I mentioned buying in my last post? I'm turning the flat sheet into a shower curtain for her new house. So far it's taken me two days to get it cut down to size, ironed and to get the first hem folded and ironed into place. Of course about an hour yesterday was spent, getting mom's sewing machine out and finding a place to set it up, which required clearing a space. Got everything clean, machine set up and then started ironing. Finished ironing in just enough time to realize that the needle on the sewing machine is broken :-( And we didn't have any extras :-(

So I ironed 5 more projects, maybe I'll get to start sewing tomorrow.

For fun, here's a picture of one of the projects I'm working on, courtesy of Martha Stewart

wow, i'm not so good at this...

I'm not so good at this blogging bit, I think maybe it's because I can't settle on any one topic to blog about and who needs to read all the crazy weird stuff that's going on...so I'll stick to crafts and knitting.

I've been slightly obsessed with craft blogs lately. I love them! I've been reading everyone I can find - can I mention now how much I love google reader? I love that it keeps all the blogs I like to read and it tells me if I read the current posts or not. I've decided that I need to learn (or re-learn rather) how to sew. Reading all these craft blogs has been fueling the desire to craft SOMETHING! I knit a very nice sock (ok it's kinda lopsided and a little loose) but I can't find the motivation to knit a second. I'm a little obsessed with the sewing however. The craft blogs that I have been reading have awesome patterns to recycle things like pillow cases into aprons, purses, tank tops, laundry bags and sooo much more. I can't wait to try something. I'm going to try to convince the hubs that we should do a little thrift shore shopping/garage saling this weekend so that I can buy some cheap pillowcases. I did find a cute set of sheets at Target and I bought a set of double bed sheets so I could have two pillow cases. What will I do with the sheets? I'm not sure yet, but I'll find something I'm sure :-)

The more blogs I read the more I want to just stay home and knit and sew and craft. Who needs work right? Maybe if I actually get on this I could make some money crafting, but it's just not as fun when you have to as when you want to. So wish my luck with the sewing machine and the pillow cases!

Wedding Invitations!!

I've not finished a single project in the last two and a half months, but I did come up with a sweet design for my wedding invitations. My mom was so impressed that she asked me where I bought them! Here's what they look like right now. This is just the invitation, the back side has a pocket, which I'll put the RSVP card, reception card, accomodations card and directions card. I haven't finished the cards and the backside of the invite yet. When I finish them, I'll post more pictures :-) Better get back to work on them!