Christmas Craft Show Open House

  

My Mom and I hosted a craft show at my house over the weekend. My Mom used to do craft shows with my older sister back in the 90's but this was new territory for me. Although I have recently developed an interest in all things crafty I have little craft experience to speak of. We came up with the idea at the end of September sitting in the garage during our garage sale but we didn't really REALLY decide to go for it until around Halloween. So, basically 6 weeks to throw the whole thing together - and that included actually MAKING all of the crafts!!! Talk about a crash course for this girl who, two months ago, didn't know one end of a glue gun from the other! Anyway, my Dad (who will be 80 years old in March) put up a bunch of signs for us (in the snowing 20 degrees weather - thank you Dad!) and my husband made homemade cookies and hot apple cider and kept the fireplace going as we nervously opened the doors! I think the snow kept some people away but we did have some visitors throughout the weekend and most of them actually bought something! Really? Something I made. You actually want. to. pay. money. for. something. I. made? Really? Get out!

We even had a drawing to give away some fresh cut trees that we grew on our property! We had them on the porch as people came in the front door. :)

Here are a few snippets of our "craft shop".....

Thanks for stopping by!

I am linking up at the following parties. Won't you join me?

Sometimes You Just Need A Break

First, I want to say thank you to my loyal friends for welcoming me back. You girls are great! I missed you and I can't wait to catch up with each of you! Second, welcome to my new friends, who visited me for the first time while I was taking a break. Glad you found me and I look forward to getting to know you better!

Since I last posted back at the beginning of February, life has gotten a bit crazy. But rather than going into details right now, I think I will just highlight some of the things that have kept me away.

Shortly after my Dad came over to help with the electric outlet in our basement, he had to go into the hospital to have a stint put in. He had been experiencing chest pains for about six weeks so he decided to see the doctor and discovered two arteries were severely blocked. In 2001, my Dad had open heart surgery, so the blockage was a bit of a surprise. We didn't realize that arteries could become blocked again. Anyway, he had the stint put in but, after a couple weeks, was still experiencing chest pains. So, back to the doctor. Long story short, they put the stint in the WRONG artery. So, he had to have the surgery AGAIN, in order to have a stint put in the proper artery. It's now been about a month since the last stint was put in and although he has had some relief, he is still getting chest pains occasionally. He has been putting off going back to the doctor for a follow up because he doesn't want to be "out of commission" right now. The reason being is because, during the same time my Dad was dealing with his stint situation, my Mom was diagnosed with colon/rectal cancer.

My Mom received this diagnosis back in February, but she waited a few weeks to tell me because she knew how excited I was about refinishing our basement and getting a new craft room. That's my Mom, always thinking about others. Anyway, she is scheduled for surgery next week. She is 77 years old and a diabetic and this is major surgery. However, she took the news rather well and has such a good attitude and sense of humor about it. She always says "If I don't laugh, I would cry...and I choose to to laugh."

I know that I don't really have to ask but if you could please keep my Mom and Dad in your prayers, I would be so grateful. Thanks! :)

And because it's really beginning to look a lot like Spring here in Illinois (it is 75 degrees right now at 5:30 in the afternoon), I decided to brighten things up around this here blog with a little something I whipped up today (with the help of one enthusiastic 5 year old chick.) Uh, that would be the basket of fabric eggs pictured above. Just in case it wasn't obvious.

Give me some of Ali's old shirts, a package of plastic eggs and a glue gun and I can make magic happen.

Am I talented or what?

Thankyouverymuch.

Sew What

I have been visiting a lot of great blogs lately of women who are incredibly talented. I love to see all of the awesome things they create! I have been interested for some time now in learning to sew and these ladies really inspire me!

My Mom is a great sew-er. When I was little, she made all of mine and my sisters' clothes. There is one particular ensemble I like to call "Pirate Paradise," that will forever go down in my childhood fashionista history. Let's just say it included a striped shawl, skirt and matching bandanna pirate thingy.

At 8 years old, I was totally fashion forward.

Sew on Thanksgiving (get it?), my Mom brought over her trusty Montgomery Ward's sewing machine and attempted to give me my first lesson. It's been a few years since my Mom has dusted off her sewing machine but I figure it's like riding a bike.

Not so much.

It took us an hour to figure out how to thread the machine.

After we stopped laughing, we got down to the business of doing us some sewing.

Now I'm not saying my Mom is a strict teacher but at one point in the lesson she said, "If you break the needle, you're outta luck!"

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mom.

I did manage to sew together two old wash clothes and was pretty proud of my first walk on the wild side of sewing.

With my first lesson under my belt and feeling pretty confident at all things sew-able, I decided to actually make something recognizable.

Sort of.

I found this great blog called Make It and Love It. Ashley, the owner, is really creative and talented. She does a lot of "re-purpose projects," making new things using material from old things. She made an adorable owl from a scarf. If you are interested, you can see her tutorial on how to make it here.

I attempted to make my version of her owl and this is what I ended up with:


When I showed Ray, he thought it was a cat.

Ben thought it was an alien.

Ali knew it was an owl.

That's my girl!

Thanks, Mom, for helping me get started with my new hobby! I can't wait for my next lesson.

Can you say obsessed?

What? Like that's a bad thing?