Handmade Birthday Presents Continued...Inspired by Pinterest

I accomplished 2 goals this past weekend.

1-I finally finished Mo Yo's birthday present and

2-I made something inspired by Pinterest.

(ok well this was one thing but it accomplished 2 different goals.  Multi-tasking)

(Oddly enough my Pinterest insipration came from something I repinned from Mo Yo's sister.)

When I was visiting Mo in Las Vegas last month, I was reminded of the lovely bar/pool table area in their home and I decided I wanted to make something for that.  I found a coaster tutorial on Pinterest and went with that.  It seemed easy enough.

How to Make Easy Coasters from Tiles and Scrapbook Paper.....
Needs-Tiles (from Home Depot or Lowes), Scrapbook paper, Modge Podge or other glue, paper cutter or scissors, clear spray paint.
1-Get your husband or man friend (well or yourself) to buy you some tiles (4.25 x 4.24 inch is a standard size) from Home Depot.  I'm not sure what section, I just know they have them there and my husband has to go to Home Depot a lot for work.  They are really cheap.
2-Buy some pretty scrapbooking paper from Michaels or another craft store.  The 12x12 paper works well for this.
3-Use a paper cutter (you can get these for cheap at a craft store) or scissors or an exacto knife to cut out 4x4 inch squares from the paper.  The 12x12 works well to make exactly 9 even 4x4 squares.
4-Then glue the paper square to a tile with Modge Podge.  I only put Modge Podge on the backside but i think next time I might do a coat on top too.  Let this dry.
5-Once this is dry, spray a coat or 2 of clear spray paint (follow instructions on can) onto each tile.  This seals the tile and makes it water resistant.

I think these came out really well.  Plus they are very cheap to make.  I can just picture myself making millions of these for Christmas presents in December.

Yay, Pinterest success!

Do you use Pinterest to come up with craft ideas?
Are coasters an acceptable birthday present?

Christmas Stockings aka Things I Bought From Etsy That I Love...

Last year was my first Christmas as a married person and also my first as a dog owner.  So I decided our family needed new Christmas stockings.

I wanted something personalized and unique since we'd just had boring red and green ones the past few years.  So I started perusing Etsy and found the shop, Handmade Pretties.  I fell in love with her stockings made from old sweaters.  Plus it seemed nice that she was recycling old sweaters to make something new.  I placed my order and asked about a smaller stocking for Hobie and she told me about her little paw print stocking.  I was sold.  I loved these last year and I still love them this year.  Plus they are really big.  I did notice though yesterday that both B and Hobie have stuff in their stocking and mine is still empty.  Sadzies.

This shop has already reached it's capacity for stockings this year but if you are in the market for new stocking for next year or a cute sweater skirt, you should check it out.

I also still have a stocking at my mom's house from when I was really little.  It has a picture of a little girl on it.  When my sister was born (9 years after me) my mom managed to find one really similar to the rest of our stockings so they'd all match each other.  B's great Aunt also knitted me a stocking last year since his Grandmother used to do that for everyone in the family before she died.  It was really sweet getting a stocking in the mail from someone I'd never even met.  (I did meet her this past year though.)

So what kind of stockings do you have?

Are they homemade?

Do you get new ones every year or have the same one from your childhood?

Sewing Machine Review and My Greatest Crafting Achievement To Date

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to review another product from CSN Stores.  This time I decided to review a sewing machine.  I have wanted to learn to sew for a long time.  I feel like not knowing how to sew is really holding me back in my crafting and making stuff (you know, the title of this blog).  So I sorted all the sewing machines available on CSN by price and bought one of the cheapest ones which was this Brother Free-Arm Sewing Machine with 10 Stitches.

So far I am loving this machine.  You should know, I don't actually really know anything about sewing so I don't have anything to compare it to.  I was able to thread the bobbin and the needle and actually get started sewing in about 45 minutes.  I think that was pretty good because I'm not the best at following directions (hence why I like cooking better than baking-less important that you follow recipes exactly in cooking).  The instructions have pictures and are pretty easy to follow.

In comparison to every other machine, this machine was cheap.  I was not expecting anything amazing, just a basic beginner sewing machine.  I think this machine is going to work for me and help me achieve my dream of one day being able to sew my own apron.  I have actually signed up for a month long sewing class.  We'll see how that goes.  Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase.

Since I didn't really know anything about sewing, I decided to just jump in head first.  I bought this pattern I found online (it said it was a good bag for beginners).  It took me most of last week, but I finally finished my bag.  There were a few mishaps but overall I was extremely proud of myself (just don't look at the straps or top too closely).  It even has pockets.  Hopefully my sewing class will give me some tips on how to do things better and what some of these sewing words mean (I had to google a bunch while making this bag).

In other, unrelated news, the dining room table is back to craftland.

Who knows how to sew?
Who wants to know how to sew?