My First Handmade Apron!

I have a serious sewing bug! First the tote, now the vintage-style apron! I have something else I cooked up (not literally) last night, but I'll save that for later this week. Anywho, I'm not sure where this came bug came from. One minute, I was hiding the sewing machine (that I was slightly intimidated by) under the side table in my living room, the next, it's taken over the dining room table along with piles of cloth, rick-rack, ribbon, vintage buttons, and other sewing goodies. Now, I finally get to put all the supplies I stocked up on several months ago to good use.

I suppose I can credit the success of my first project this weekend and how much easier it was to do than I thought it would be...or could I could credit the most-awesome craftiness of the authors and contributors of all the crafty books I've been stocking up on...or I could consider that I may have gained some extra craftiness through osmosis by spending all day with the crafters at the Etsy Crafting Patch Market. I like to think it's a combination of all of the above that led to my second project - the Vintage Apron in Bend The Rules Sewing by Amy Karol:


Gathering my materials



Getting ready to put the pieces together



Sewing the last bit - finishing the waist band



The directions said to embellish as I wanted, so I added a simple pocket with some pretty rick-rack



It's far from perfect - the gathering wasn't so hot and I didn't sew the lines quite as straight as I could have, but I'm pretty proud of this for my first apron project. Can't wait to wear it for my next cooking adventure. Thanks Amy for the fun project!

My First Handmade Tote!

Yay! I finally bit the bullet and jumped head-first into one of my first major sewing projects. Perhaps it was the collection of talented crafters yesterday who inspired me or perhaps it's just that time of year? Whatever it is, I'm glad I did it. Oh wait, I know at least one good reason for the crafty-cravings - I just got my copy of The Crafter's Companion and noticed a couple somewhat simple looking beginner projects to try out. I went for the Library Tote by Fiona Dalton of Hop Skip Jump

The storm before the calm


Aligning the pocket


A rookie error while sewing the top sections together - serious sewing crafters are now either laughing at this photo or shaking their head - can you see what I did wrong?


Yea, that strap was supposed to be INSIDE the purse!!! Doh! After some serious seam-ripping I started the top-sewing again. Ahh...that's much better


Wow - my first tote! I'm so thrilled! I should have reinforced it with interfacing, but didn't want to waste it in the event I totally goofed this project up.


I think this tote might just be with me for awhile. Maybe forever.


That was fun! Hmm...which project to do next? Maybe I should try to finish that embroidery project from awhile back?

Pre-Etsy Show

Crafters out there will understand how not-such-a-good-idea it was that my SO wanted me to help him make these the day before my big show.

Silly boys!

I'm a Craft Pioneer!

At least that's what the girl running the Etsy Crafting Patch Market craft show told me. When I signed up for the Etsy sponsored event, I knew it was the first one of it's kind in NC. What I didn't realize was that the event I participated in on Saturday was the first Etsy craft show EVER! Can you believe that? I'm honored...seriously!

The show didn't have the traffic I was hoping for, but I had a blast and met a lot of super cool crafters. Everyone there was so nice and it was like everyone was part of a little family. People were helping each other set up their booths, gabbed all day, swapped goodies, and even helped each other take their booth displays down (even when they had a 6 hour drive to make directly after the show - thanks Michelle and hubby :) ).

One of the highlights of the day was my booth display. I didn't win any awards, but in a way I won a personal victory. It's taken me a really long time to get my booth looking in a way that I'm actually happy with, so I'm super proud to share these photos - there has been a lot of hard work and heart put into getting the booth this way:



To my left, I had the lovely Michelle and hubby with AsianCharm (click) and to my right, I had two super friendly girls with Microwave Girl (click)

I also got a fab organic shirt from Ahpeele (click)

Thanks to Angelica and everyone who helped put this together. I hope to be accepted to the Market for '08 - I'll definitely be applying! Hey to all my new Etsy friends - it was so nice meeting all of you and I hope to see you around the craft scene.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I got this fabulous Breast Cancer inspired mosaic from Simply Mein - Isn't it beautiful?

Just a reminder that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I was trying to have an annual Shop for the Cure event (this year would have been my second event, but alas, I couldn't secure my venue in time). That's ok, though, because I'm going to try to work with a larger group to plan something spectacular for next year. In the meantime, there are tons of ways to support Breast Cancer Awareness and research. You can raise money and participate in or donate money to your friends who are doing either the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure or the Avon Walk for Breast cancer - or you could just volunteer at one of the events - volunteers are always needed.

If you're strained on time this year, there are many goods out there you can purchase so a portion of the sales is donated to a good Breast Cancer related charity. I found a bunch of nifty kitchen stuff at Target today all in pink, including this cupcake carrier:

Bialetti Cupcake Carrier (image/item target.com)

I should have gotten this, but nooooo...I just had to get the pink whisk, pink frying pan, pink tongs, and pink scale instead. Maybe next time. Anywho, Bialetti had lots of Breast Cancer related items. I'm not sure if they actually donate a portion of the sales of these items, but they are a sponsor of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, so I guess somewhere down the line they end up donating a portion of sales.

Anyone doing anything special to support Breast Cancer? :)

A Martha Stewart Halloween

I really like to celebrate holidays, but I feel like I just haven't been able to get in the spirit of the season (any season) no matter how much I want to. It seems like every year, we say that we're going to do this and that, but I'm tired of talking. Actions truly do speak louder than words, and I've been ready to get my Martha Stewart on for awhile now! On Monday, I decided to take some time to try a couple of the Martha Stewart crafts from her Good Things and Bad Things collective Halloween magazine. I hit up Michael's to stock up on the necessary supplies and had lots of fun! It's been awhile since I've been able to just craft and not worry about making jewelry. I think I earned some fun time when I spent nearly the whole weekend making jewelry non-stop.

First I had to get everything prepped. I wasn't sure how exactly to spray paint the glass vases I got from Michaels for roughly $1, but I figured out that an empty toilet paper roll can be squeezed in to perfectly prop them up. Per the mag, I was supposed to use Mint Julep cups, but I wasn't sure what those were and didn't see anything that looked like the photo in the store. These will have to do for me.


Turns out the toilet paper roll idea worked out pretty well - I easily got a nice coat all over the vase - no sticking to the paper or waiting for it to dry.


Then, it was on to the flowers. I bought the cheapest roses I could find at about $1.25 per stem (one rose per stem) and got 6 so I could put 3 in each jar. The flowers were kinda fun to paint, but if you decide to try this, know that it's kinda hard to get a full coat on and it looks kinda cool with part of the color sticking out from underneath, so definitely go with red roses for that scary look


Don't the roses look scary all black!?


There, all set up in the black vases.


Looks pretty creepy, but a little sparse to me.


There, that's better!


Now I just need to make some creatures to fill up the branch...


Hopefully, there will be lots more crafting in my near future - I have creatures to make and more crafty ideas to bring to life!

Long Weekend Work

We had a relatively relaxing weekend, this past weekend. I wish I could have spent more time crafting or making jewelry today since I had Columbus Day off. I love being at home during the day, watching the craft shows on TV, and making stuff (jewelry, crafts, whatever). I don't get enough days at home, and it stinks b/c when I finally have one, I usually have to run errands I normally can't do b/c of traffic or not having enough time. I think I spent about 3 hours at Target today, but I guess that's what happens when you don't go for months at a time.

Anywho, we had a pretty good weekend. We visited my honey's mommy and got to hang out with his dog (I think it's funny how she sleeps almost like a human - my SO says that she copied him by the way she hangs her arm off the side of the bed. I know...he's crazy! lol...jk)


I figured out that there's a bead store about 3 miles away from his mom's house and hit it up twice, yes twice, to get lots of fun beads for some upcoming shows. I think I spent a total of 4 hours in that store. Wow - do I have my work cut out for me? Look at all those beads! This is after I spent nearly the whole weekend beading with my new beads!


I even had some time to make some nice snacks. This is one of my favorites. It's a baguette, sliced somewhat thin (about 1/2 thick), drizzled with olive oil and toasted under the broiler. Served with a soft cheese, this is simply yummy. You seriously have to drizzle the bread w/ olive oil - it makes a huge difference in taste that I hadn't expected the first time I made it:


I actually did manage to get a couple fun Martha Stewart crafting project done and I can't wait to share them with you later this week!

Shabby Chic W/E Project (Redux)

I originally posted this Shabby Chic project on my other blog, Designing Sass, but I'm not sure if I'll ever post there again? I'd really like to, but it's really hard to keep up two blogs, let alone three. A shame, too, because I spent so long making the template of that one really pretty. Anywho, more on that later...Here's my original post:

I've been looking for a printer stand for awhile...not necessarily a true printer stand, but anything furniture-wise that I could put a printer on. Right now, it's propped on some plastic drawers, but the top of one is caving under the weight of the printer, so...you get the point.

So, as soon as I saw this dresser at the Salvation Army, I saw the potential in it to become my printer stand...with some nice paint, scrapbook paper, and decoupage.

Here's, basically, what it looked like before:

I had already taken off the knob (see below) and 3 little colored domes that are fit just above the drawer (you can kinda see where they used to be by the indentations)


Not so cute knob...it's ok, just not my thing


Same thing w/ the feet


All sanded and primed now! Ready for some pretty paint!


All painted up...still not thaaaat cute


Ah...now we're getting somewhere! I used some pretty, floral scrapbook paper to do a decoupaged finish to the top of the nightstand and the front of the drawer...it's far from perfect, but I love it! Now, all I need is a new knob...hmm...


That's when I run into this...argh! Who knew a store could have so many!? I went with a cheap acrylic one...it's just for me and for a $10 difference, it doesn't matter too much...I still found the look I was going for.


All done! Yay!


But...now, do I really want to stick a stinky ole' computer on top of my super cute handiwork? Decisions, decisions...any ideas?

I posted this a few months ago, and haven't put a printer on it yet. Guess that answers that question! lol

Can't. Remember. Sandwich.

I did something bad today...ok, not really, actually bad. See, I work for a major bank, and this bank, being quite major and quite large, has multiple buildings in the downtown area. One of these buildings had a small fire a couple weekends ago, which caused all the of the sprinklers in the building to turn on, thus flooding the entire building. To make a long story short, the building was closed for almost two weeks, so as a welcome back, they've been having little events all week...free breakfast on Monday...free lunch today. Now, I have meetings in this "problem building" all the time, but I don't actually work there, however, I took it upon myself to attend two of the events this week. What? What do you mean that's not nice? Sure the party was private, but the signs around the events didn't say "Only for Employees of Company XYZ Who Work in this Building"...they said "Private Party for Company XYZ." I work there...ok, ok...you guys keep catching me. I don't work work there. I'm a consultant...whatever...details, details. I went late and waited until they were about the pack up the food...that means I was just helping clean up...yea...I was just trying to help by not wasting food and stuff.

At today's lunch event, my friend and I were some of the last people there, so they told us we could take the flowers off the table. Aren't these little yellow flowers cute?

There was a shopping event downtown where roughly 20 vendors set up tables to sell their wares, so, I had to stock up on Tupperware (they always have discounts at this thing, so I always hit up the Tupperware Ladies' table) and with the Tupperware and the flowers, my load was really growing for my walk back to my car (3 blocks from my building). Throughout the day, I glanced over at my little hoard of goodies trying to figure out the best way to carry it all home. I could put this in my work bag, this in my purse, this I'll loop over my wrist...I also had to remember to take my daily sandwich home with me. I've been trying to save money by eating in and bringing sandwiches to work. However, since I got free lunch today, I decided to eat my lunch sammy for dinner to save money and not waste food. Can you tell I'm big on that? Anywho, I started thinking that a sandwich and fries...sounded pretty good. I made a mental note to take the sandwich w/ me. At around 5PM, I remembered my plan to take my sammy home, and even thought to go ahead and put it in my bag, but I knew I'd be at work till closer to 6 and didn't want it to spoil. Certainly, I can remember to take a sandwich home with me I thought. I tried to remember over and over again for the last hour of my day:
5:10PM - remember to take the sandwich home
5:17PM - gotta get the sandwich out of the break room
5:23PM - maybe I can go ahead and get my sandwich now? No, no...just wait. You'll remember
5:35PM - remember the sandwich
5:42PM - remember sandwich. must. remember. sandwich.

Then, right before 6PM, I knew it was time to go. It was the time when you look at the clock, smile a bit inside, and know you get to home...YAY! I love this time of day. I even like my 3 block walk home (except when it's raining). The weather today was nice - a bit gray by the time I was leaving, but the temperature was nice - not too hot, not too cold - a slight breeze gently blowing through the trees along the street. I left the building, smiled at the security guys (a friendly smile, not a Joey-hey-how-you-doin smile), and made my way down the sidewalk towards my car. I noticed the very tippy-tops of the leaves were starting to turn gold. I notice a lot of stuff, usually. I notice weird things a lot of the time...someone bouncing their head to the music in their car as they pass me...birds playfully chasing each other through the trees. I noticed one of the security guys waving at several cars as they drove by. Some honked, leading me to believe they must drive by there the same time every day and he's out there the same time of day ever day to wave hello. I got to the intersection where I can see my car from across the parking lot, and I noticed...uh oh. I noticed that I forgot my sandwich. :( It's amazing that someone can be so forgetful so much, but sure enough...I do it all the time. I decided that with my hands full of Tupperware, flowers, and purses, I'd just drop everything off at my car (except my purse b/c that's just asking for it to be stolen) and walk back to get my sammy. Yea, I had to walk back to the building, go all the way back up to my floor, get the sandwich out the fridge, and walk the 3 blocks back to my car. I didn't notice as much this time around, but at least I got some exercise, right? Right? Ok, not really.

Anywho, I did manage to bring my sandwich home and toasted it a bit in the oven while I baked some seasoned french fries. Not the fanciest dinner, but it was hella easy.

I get so jealous of the other bloggers I see crafting and creating all the time. I bought lots of craft goodies, but haven't had the time to make anything. At least, I thought I was making anything. Sometimes, I don't even think about making jewelry as I do as crafting or being creative. I really need to work on that perspective, I think, b/c my jewelry making takes up lots of time and I make cool stuff, too...at least I hope I do.

This is a jewelry set that I've been making for awhile, but not in this color combo. This is actually one of my best sellers, but I've been trying to make more of these in some sports-colors. People seem to go crazy for their sports teams and love to have anything in their fave team's colors. I hope they think this when they see me selling my jewelry later this month. Wish me luck...I have so much debt to pay off...grr.

Anywho, I simply love how sparkly these Swarovski crystals are. They're much more expensive than glass, but I think they're so much more worth it. The sparkle and shine you get from Swarovski crystals is practically unbeatable. I love the sparklies...I think that's one reason I got into jewelry making. Ooh...sparkly!

Almond Cake

I saw the most lovely recipe in one of my Rachael Ray magazines for an almond cake. It looked so scrumptious, I simply had to try it out.

This recipe has lots of yummy ingrediants, including orange zest...it gives it a little something extra...

Care for some of the cake, dear? I made this with my own two little hands...can you believe it? I still can't...I'm not the best baker.

Look at all those little almond slices...I think almonds are one of the best nuts around.

Now to squeeze the cake out of the pan...this is the tricky part. Then, I just top this cake off with powdered sugar, like so...

Would you care for a slice? It's still warm from the oven...mmm. Have some orange slices with it to help pull the flavor of the orange zest.

Now, to brew some coffee. Good thing my honey bought me this for my b-day.

Anyone in the SE Want a Dog?

This is a long shot, but I caught wind of a dog that needs rescuing:

This dog needs to be adopted asap. Here's the email I got:

Hello
Tammy and I work with the Anderson Humane Society and Tammy has this particular doggie case that is a rush rush for pooch ( read below and see photo)

We are networking him/her but wanted to ask you ( see email from Suzanne?) to see if there was any chance you knew of anyone that could foster or a home for him? Bad thing is we have to do something in a hurry...................

Thank you for your time and if you can please send us an email just letting us know you got this and any suggestions you may have, many thanks again!!!!

Stephanie~

Stephanie, Wanda and Angela -

Town of West Pelzer called me this morning saying they have found a stray running around town and caught him. Evidently they have caught him before but he manages to escape from their kennel. They wanted to know if we wanted him because if no one claims him in three days (providing he stays in the kennel) they will take him to the shelter.

Here is the description on him and I have attached the photo they sent to me.

Young dog, probably under a year. Very friendly and used to people apparently. About 2 feet tall, slender, but healthy. Black and white.

Do you know of any possible foster homes or maybe even a permanent home? They only problem is the time....they will only keep him for 3 days.

If anyone knows anyone who would like to adopt a super-cute doggie in the Greenville, SC area, please email me at shopaholicd at gmail dot com and I'll provide contact info for you.

Comfort Food: Cooler Weather Dinner

What is it about the weather cooling down that makes you want to have something baking in the oven for dinner and something warm for dessert? Maybe a roasted chicken and home-baked apple pie? Mmmm...maybe I'll try both of those for the first time later this year. It's kinda weird how as much as I cook now, I didn't cook all that much before. Sure, I played restaurant owner when I was kid and I remember wanting a cash register so badly. More than I wanted dolls, Barbies, or even an easy-bake-oven. Perhaps I've always wanted to own my own business...not so much cook. Either way, I grew up watching food TV back when no one knew who Emeril or Rachael Ray was and when my favorite chef was Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook. He came into town this past weekend, but I didn't get to see him. This is the 2nd year I knew he was here and somehow missed out. Oh well...there's always next year. Funny how that happens. Everything seems to turn into "I'll do that next year" or "I'll do that next time" if you're not careful.

I'm working on that...not procrastinating as much. Actually completing my to-do list...or at least getting the most important items out of the way first.

Doesn't this chicken dish look yummy? It's actually quite the semi-homemade meal. I've actually featured it here on The Chic Life before, but my future mother-in-law bought me the most adorable baking set and I had to take more pictures with the one I used for this meal.

A meal is never complete without dessert, right? I don't think it is...I like to say that even when my regular stomach is full, my dessert stomach is waiting to be fed. Does anyone else out there have a "dessert stomach"? Not only do I have one, but I have the worst sweet tooth...I'm a dessert-a-holic, basically.

These are some super yummy Blueberry Dumplings by Paula Deen. They are one of the best desserts you can make on a cold or rainy day it says so on Wikipedia (ok, not really...you caught me fibbing). I'm sure it would be good on a warm day, but it's just so ooey-gooey and warm on your throat...I bet this would be so tastey if you had a cold - one of those colds where you can actually smell and taste food, of course. If you try this recipe, watch out b/c this recipe is super-sweet...I mean really sweet, and that's coming from a self-proclaimed dessert-a-holic, so you know I mean business.

Now This is Singing

I forgot how much I used to love and appreciate truly good singing by more "classic" artists (i.e. non-pop-stars). I'm not sure if it was my dad's love for beautiful music or my background in figure skating (where we almost always skated to a classical piece of music), but I rediscovered it at random the other day. My mom was telling me about how there was a man on the TV show Britain's Got Talent who looked like a blue collar worker but who sang beautiful opera (yea, that happened awhile ago, but you know I'm a bit behind on news sometimes). What I especially like about the story is how they (the judges and the audience) so wrongly judged him by his looks. You have to see the video below to understand, but basically, he walks up on the stage and they ask him what he's there for. He says, "To sing opera." The judges roll their eyes and it's as if they, as well as, the whole audience thinks he's mad. But, the music starts and Paul begins to sing Nessun Dorma...to the shock of everyone...it's simply beautiful. Can you believe this raw talent? You show 'em, Paul... you show 'em:


I don't know what it is about this song, but I want to listen to it over and over and over again...I can't get enough! I've been listening mostly to this version by the great Pavarotti live in Paris in 1998:


In case you're a figure skating fan, here's skating great Brian Boitano skating to Nessun Dorma for his Artistic Program at the 1994 Gold Championships:


Ok, now that we're all sick of Nessun Dorma, I'm off to finish cleaning my house...almost there...phew!