Washi Tape Christmas

Hey y'all! A couple of months ago the folks over at Stitch Craft Create in the UK asked my if I'd like to participate in a little Christmas ornament blog hop, of course I said yes, and today is my day! I worked with the US side of Stitch Craft Create many, many times before it became a UK publication (four issues in a row to be exact and have had a couple of my patterns republished in the UK edition too), and I must say that they are really fab people to work with!

Since I have more washi tape than can possibly be good for me, I chose to make one of the ornaments from Washi Tape Christmas by Kami Bigler. Although, who am I kissing? I love books and SSC has so many fun looking holiday craft books (I already own Handmade Scandinavian Christmas and it is awesome).

This book is super cute and has lots of ideas for using up all that spare washi tape; there's cards and gift wrapping, ornaments and decorations, and so much more. Very, very cute!

I decided to make the Jolly Holiday Baubles and they were so simple! The best part was digging through my washi tape and deciding which tape should be next to which. Since I don't own any circle punches, I cut all of my circles out by hand so there are a few that are a little wobbly. I still think they're cute though!

Just for fun, I decided to make two baubles using different colour schemes. This one is red and white with a little gray thrown in (which sort of matches my holiday theme for this year.

The second one I did in turquoise and pink for a vintage Christmas feel! I think this colour scheme also makes this bauble less Christmas-y - something that you could make for decorations for a baby or bridal shower.

Go here to see all of the bloggers participating in this hop - many have blogged already but there's still a few more to go!

SSC is also hosting a little contest...

Hop on over here for all the details! There's only a few days left in the contest so be sure to check it out soon if you're ineterested!

Sewing Summit Swap: Part One

After Sewing Summit finished up I received a notification asking if I'd like to participate in a swap being held for people who attended - of course I said yes! I received my partner notification a little while later and had been busily thinking of what I should make her; I looked though her blog, Flickr, and Pinterest and still had no idea what to do! Her style is close to mine in some ways, but many of the things I thought to make her she had already made something similar for herself. So I settled on "cute" with a few extras, hah!

Using a little munki munki from Heather Ross and a lot of blue scraps I made her a small log cabin-inspired pincushion! The finished size is about 4x4" so each of the little strips measures half an inch wide finished - I don't think I've ever made a log cabin using such small pieces before but it was pretty fun to work in miniature. The scraps are a mix of all kinds of things - Joel Dewberry, Heather Bailey, Liesl Gibson, Lizzy House, and a slew of others. I forgot to take a picture of the back but I used Mixed Signals in Sea Foam from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush and sewed on one of my own "handmade by" labels too! It's hard to see in the pictures, but I also added some batting to the top and did a little bit of quilting before putting it all together.

I thought I was being pretty clever putting the munki munki tomato pincushion in the centre of an actual pincushion... oh, I slay myself! It really is just the perfect fit too - miniature pincushion on a pincusion - good times!

My swap partner mentioned that she loves Denyse Schmidt's new Chicopee so I included a 2.5" square of all but two of the fabrics in the collection because I know she likes to make EPP hexagons. I also included two of my own handmade washi tape magnets as a little extra.

My partner hasn't received her package yet (so I can't reveal who she is), but I really hope she likes it! I haven't received my package yet either, but I've seen some really great stuff posted to the Flickr group and am really excited for it to arrive!

Once you accept the fact that you're not perfect, then you develop some confidence. -Rosalynn Carter

Hey y'all! I have been having quite a bit of fun the last two weeks or so making all kinds of fun stuff and I've got some more to share today!

I made this fun casserole carrier last Saturday on a whim. We were heading to our friends' for dinner and were bring Caprese Bites as an appetizer (which are baked in a pie plate) and I realized that we didn't really have anything to carry them in.

I used the Potluck Take-Along pattern that appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of Stitch magazine. For the top and handles I used some fabric from Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room collection (which I had left over from this bag that I made just about three years ago); the bottom is a home dec weight fabric from Ikea and there's also a layer of Insulbrite in both the top and bottom. I love the way that it turned out, but I must say that the binding was a terrible pain - if I make this again, I'll definitely come up with a better way if doing it!

I used this tutorial to make these super-fun washi tape magnets! Rather than recycling magnets (since I didn't have any to use) I bought a magnet sheet from my local dollar store. I put them on our back door (which is one of those metal security ones) along with the Yiddish word magnets I got Alex. The tape came from two Toronto-area sources - Omiyage and a brick and mortar store called Hanji.

I also tried canning for the first time and it was awesome! Last Sunday, before celebrating Rosh Hashanah with Alex's family, we stopped at the apple orchard and picked up some produce from the farm stand; I canned some whole tomatoes (after coring and blanching) and have some big plans to can my own marinara after we go to St. Jacob's (the semi-local Mennonite market) next weekend.

Tomorrow I am finally going to cut out the muslin for my Tova, can some dill spears, and bake some pumpkin mini muffins - woot!