mod podge clothespins & an "open" frame...

OK, first?  Can I just tell you how excited I am about our office craft fair tomorrow?  Partly because I'm ready and I'm psyched and I can't wait to see what everyone's got.  And partly because I'm relieved.  The date was announced SIX WEEKS AGO and I've been prepping ever since.  Tonight I moved all my goodies out of my scrap/sewing/guest room and it looks downright empty.  YAY!

So at the last minute I decided to whip up some of these scrappy mod podged clothespins...

What do you think?

I'm thinking they'll look super-cute with my "open" picture frames...sneak peek below...

What crafty deliciousness have you been cooking up lately?

I'm so flattered...

I've been featured at DIY by Design and couldn't be more flattered!  Go check out her Wednesday "Fall Into Fall" linky party....LOTS and LOTS of great ideas there!  

Thanks Judy!!!

cute pillows...

Pardon my absence.  

Between Thanksgiving and gearing up for this craft show, things have been a little hectic around here.  I'm a little nervous, though, because my friend Shannon took a bunch of my chalkboards and frames to an out-of-town craft fair this weekend, and they haven't sold well.  Oh well...if things don't sell at the fair, everyone will be getting lovely little handmade Christmas presents! 

In the meantime, I've been putting together a collection of pillows.  I'll be displaying them in a galvanized bucket a la the Pleated Poppy like this:

Here are a few that I've done so far.  

I'm thinking about maybe listing them on etsy.  What do you think?  

How was your Thanksgiving?

wreath #3...mini wreath

I can't stop.  It's a sickness.  Not like the frame thing.  Or the little table thing.  But still.

I found a booklet of sheet music from my local used bookstore {Bookman's is AWESOME y'all!}  And this music was published in 1937!  Wow!  Now, I'm always hesitant to tear apart a book, or even sheet music, but I had this image of this poor little booklet sitting alone on the shelves at Bookman's for years - all sad and lonely - and then getting thrown away because it wasn't selling.  So, really, I RESCUED this music from the dumpster.  Or that's what I'm telling myself.

I love this wreath as-is.  But I'm also thinking it needs something.  A little glitter maybe?  What do you think?

Again, this is something that I'll be selling at the office craft fair.  A portion of all sales from the fair will go to our local food bank.  The Tucson Community Food Bank is way short on food and cash donations this year and won't be able to provide holiday food boxes to families in need.  My awesome, kind and generous co-workers are also collecting food and will be doing some fundraising for the food bank over the next month.  Because that's how we roll.

What holiday cheer are you spreading these days?

dreaming of a beige christmas...

With all this book-page, sheet-music and burlap stuff that I've been crafting, the Holidays feel very beige for me this year.  My house is mostly beige too.  I'm going to have to find some creative ways to work in some pops of color here and there!

This is a project I've been wanting to try for a while now.  I was inspired by the stocking tute over at Cozy.Cottage.Cute.  Her stocking is much cuter, and her pleats much more uniform, but I think mine is cute too.  I'll be selling this one (and hopefully a couple more, if I have the time to make them) at my office's holiday craft fair on December 1st.

The thing about all of the stuff I've been making for the craft fair is this:  If It Doesn't Sell, I'll Be Happy To Keep It For Myself.  For a long time, I used to make things for craft fairs {baby stuff} that I really couldn't use myself.  But now...if it doesn't sell at the fair, I have a TON of awesome handmade Christmas gifts!  YAY!

So what awesome holiday craftiness have you been up to?

chicken wire frame...

I'm making some progress on my new collection of old frames.

This big one here...

Now looks like this...

I made my own mixture of white and black aiming for a nice, chic hue of grey...but it looks more blue than grey.  Still, very pretty.

The chicken wire was a huge pain in the patoot - partially because of the design of the back of the frame - and even though I swore I'd never make another one of these frames it turned out SO cute that I might make another one.

So whhat do you think?  Do you like the grey?  Or should I stick to white, black and Caribbean Mist?  :)

What crafty crafts have you been crafting lately?

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Come play with me...

I link up to the parties shown on my right-hand sidebar under Linky Love. Check them out...they're the greatest! :}

Thrifty Thursday: My disorder, part deux

So people?  

At that very same church rummage sale I bought some other stuff.  

Remember the green-framed mirror?  I forgot to load it into my car on Friday afternoon.  And by the time I realized that I had forgotten it, they were closed.  So of course I had to go back FIRST THING in the morning to make sure they didn't sell my precious mirror to anyone else.  What I did not realize is that Saturday was HALF PRICE DAY!  So, of course I had to  buy two more mirrors.  And those suckers were big and heavy, so I had to go home, get the hubby's truck and go back to pick them up.  Well, of course, as long as I had the truck with me - and little tables were selling for like $2 - I had to buy 3 little tables.  I swear, I was standing in the back of the truck muttering "my husband's going to kill me."  Pretty sure those church rummage sale people think I'm a little crazy.  But!  Look what I got:

 {husband was disappointed that the top of this table was not real leather.  doesn't he understand that one cannot PAINT leather?  duh!}

{great legs}

I've already started painting and will be selling a couple of these sweet finds at - you guessed it - my office craft fair.  Yippee!

The grand total for this truckload of goodies?  About 15 bucks!

So what fantastic finds have you found lately?

flower power...

Here's some more stuff I whipped up for our office craft fair.  I can't believe it's 3 1/2 weeks away!  What happened to October???

I have a few of these flower pins that I made for myself.  They're so cute and easy to make that I thought I'd make some for the fair.  I tend to wear a lot of neutral colors, so these little flowers give me a pop of color.

 

 I made some with just a pin on the back...

 

and some have a pin and an alligator clip (so that you can put it in your hair, too)...

What do you think?  Too much?  Would you be more likely to use it as a pin, or in your hair?

Here's a rolled flower that I whipped up yesterday using scraps of drop cloth left over from the clutch I made here.

Thinking about listing some of these on etsy...what do you think?

So what fabulous fall crafts have you been making?

in a clutch...

I'm getting ready for a little craft fair that we're having at my office in December and thought I'd show you some little clutches that I slaved over for hours just whipped up.

These are my first "zip" clutches.  The tutorial is at Skip to My Lou.  Her tute is awesome:  very clear and easy to follow, with pics for every step.  And believe me, once you've made one, you'll be addicted. 

One of the things I love is that you can really make them any size you like (taking into account the size of the zipper you're using) with fabric scraps you may have left over from other projects.  And I've got LOTS of those!  Also...there's a fabric-by-the-pound store close to my office that sells zippers in all sizes and colors for about 25 cents each.  So really, you can't afford NOT to make one of these cuties!  :)

What do you think?  Should I be listing some of these on etsy?

Next up...fabric flower pins and hair accessories.

i have a problem...

Hi, my name is Maggie and I'm addicted to picture frames.  It was getting bad.  Even the hubby said, "Honey, I think you might have a problem."  And he promised in front of God and everyone to be nice to me even if I'm being crazy.  It's that bad.  

And then I went to this church rummage sale where frames were 50 cents and $1, and this is what I came home with:

Look at that great mirror with the green frame in the back.  Oh, it's going to be gorgeous!

Lord, please give me strength.  As the daughter of a borderline-hoarder, I should know better, right?

But!  Inspired by the success of my chippy chalkboard frame here, I've begun transforming all those old frames into this:

Thinking about listing them on etsy.  What do you think?