Too much...

The worst part of not blogging consistently is trying to decide what to blog about when I do it, finally.
So much has happened since my last post -fun stuff, crafty stuff!
I guess since this is a "crafty" blog, I guess I should start there.
The craft of the week items went into the neighborhood Holiday Bazaar, and it was fun and I had enough left for gifts at the holidays

I made other things too: Canned tomatillo salsa -this past summer was an amazing one for our first crack at growing tomatillos, Halloween costumes (awesome Dalek & Shaun the Sheep), lots of sleep pants at Christmas.
Here is a snippet of a quilt I finished that my grandmother had given me the pieces to awhile back:

Some of the fabrics came from the scraps of dresses I had when I was little. I love how it turned out, and I was even able to find some fabric that tied it all together very nicely for the backing & binding.
Oooh! Did I mention my Big Shot conked out on me? It kindly waited until after my last holiday card class.
Here's a little before and after:

I disassembled, hubby WD40'd the bearings, I reassembled, and voila! Back in business! I was not ready to give it up that easy.
Okay, one last craft... I made these fun little pom-pom creatures for the kiddos Easter baskets. I used to make these in elementary school for our class to sell at the school craft fair. We called them Fuzzy Buddies.
Forgot how fun they were to make, and remembered all the googly eyes and Tacky Glue we went through making them.

Happy Crafting!

Craft of the Week and Bonus "Craft"

So this week, I made these super-easy washer necklaces. I just made sure the diameter of the washer and the hole in the washer coordinated with my circle punch sizes. Then I punched out a bunch of retired DSP I have adhered it with Tombo multi-purpose glue, let dry, and sealed with SU! Crystal Effects. Voila!
It felt way to easy -kind of like I was cheating, so I made them double-sided and added assorted SU! Jewels.

This one is my favorite:

It's very dainty and pretty, well, for a washer anyway!



Since I seemed to have a bunch of extra days in the week (I finished these last Saturday), well technically, I finished them before the week even started, I went and bought a dozen more washers that I'll finish by Saturday.
Also, late last week, our new local produce shop got in tons of peaches from their orchard over in Eastern Wa. I couldn't resist and bought 2 boxes (40lbs), as the price was amazing, and they're non-certified organic. Well, I learned a little something: Don't try to peel/skin unripe peaches. I thought they were good as they gave a little under pressure, but they were a little green. So, couple days hanging out in the warm-ish garage, and ta-da! They peeled perfectly yesterday, and today, and more again today. I gave my first try at canning them, next will be jam, and the rest into the freezer and crisp for tonight.

Ironically peaches aren't my favorite, and after a year of 40lbs of peaches, I'll probably stick with a single 20lb box next year. But, boy oh boy, I can't wait for the blackberries to come in (our yard ones are a later variety), to make some peach/blackberry cobbler -Yummy!

Oh, and for those of you who are local, here is the link to Bill Pace Produce . He's not new, but he's got a new shop in our 'hood. I'm so excited about getting fresh local apples by the box soon. Applesaucin' here I come!!

Happy Crafting!

Craft of the Week: Week 6

Still on track for Crafts of the Week! I am looking to sustain this through August, and hopefully it will have become enough of a habit to carry on into the holiday season.
This past week's project was purely a practical one: A bed/pillow for puppy.

 I used two solid colors of blizzard fleece on sale at Joann's -kind of a limey green and chocolate brown, and a 27" square pillow form. Ironically, we did not have puppy then, but I knew we would get a puppy at some point in the near future and tried to choose something neutral color-wise. I just had to take advantage of the great 4th of July sale and military discount.
Don't the colors go great with her coat and collar??

Happy Crafting!

Bad Blogger's Crafts of the Week

I really enjoy reading good bloggers, but I'm hoping if any of you followers are still around, you don't mind checking out blogs of bad bloggers like myself. Many life changes since the last blog posting. I have implemented a "craft-of-the-week" this summer to keep myself crafting, and using the supplies I just "had to have". I started 6/24.
Weeks 1&2 were these cute recipe boxes:

I've got more paper ordered so I can make some more -love the way they turned out with the matching divider cards.

Week 3 were swaps for Girl Scout camp that I volunteered at with my 3 kiddos:

We made over 150 to go with our camp names: Bunny, CrocStar, Snorkel, and Pearl (like in Finding Nemo)

Week 4 was basket weaving at camp:

Basket weaving (for those of you who don't already know), is so amazingly zen. Must do this again!

Week 5 was these super-fun and easy necklaces:

I'll be selling these along with some other style necklaces at a community craft fair in the fall.

Week 6 will be a bed for this little cutie, our newest family member:

Thanks for hanging in with me! I'm thinking along with Craft of the Week, I need to start Blog of the Week. :)
Have a great afternoon wherever you are!
Happy Crafting!