‘Tis the season

for decorating, gift making, and continuing to make things you find on Pinterest. 
I recently discovered deco mesh for wreath making, and I had pinned some candy cane wreaths on Pinterest but wasn’t sure where to find one, but shopping your small businesses pays off!  My cousin owns a shop in Northern Florida called Sunsations, and there is was! So now it graces my mantel……

And at my office is a Clemson Christmas Tree…..

So do you every have that friend that some years it is easy to buy for and other years it is impossible to get an idea?  Well I had that dilemma this year, but finally the idea hit me.  So I made her present, and make some from me as well.  And just for the record the gift giving industry is missing a HUGE market with not making Scrabble designed wine glasses. I guess it is just me and my bf that drink wine and play Scrabble :)


Since there was no where to purchase Scrabble wine glasses I decided to make my own.  I tried to do diy rub on transfers and that was a huge fiasco!  So I went back to my original idea of etching tiles with our initials on them.  What do you think?
I’m helping with a huge National Conference in July 2012, I’m in charge of the table decorations and several other areas.  My idea is Burlap and Lace and there are some of the vases I plan on using.  I’m looking for thicker to burlap to really pop against the mason jar.  Love the lace ribbon!


I squeezed in a little time to cross stitch!  I haven't cut it out yet but I love this little ornament!

And Clemson is headed to the Orange Bowl!

Sisters Divided! 

I’ve actually made something I pinned!

 

I spend minutes sometimes hours getting ideas from Pinterest, and then never seem to have time to actually MAKE all the great things I find. 

Well I can say that I have finally made something that I pinned!

Glitter Ornaments

These are super easy to make!  Find the tutorial here

 

Christmas Tree Mobile

This project took a little more time and planning but the result was pretty awesome, if I can brag on myself.

I made this for my friends Merle Norman Studio as part of her Christmas decorations.  I find the tutorial at Not Martha.  I didn’t use as many ornaments as the tutorial called for but I think the effect is still the same.

Happy Pinning!

Carrie

Long time…no post

Wow it has been a long time since I last posted!  So this is going to be a heavy picture post to catch up on everything.

Dancing With the Clarendon County Stars

 

We danced to Singles Ladies and came in 4th place for talent!  Hunter is an amazing dancer.  I had an absolute blast participating and over 73 thousand dollars was raised for two charities.

Kansas City

Smallcakes!  These were so delicious no wonder the owner was invited to be star on Cupcake Wars.  Unfortunately he forgot the main ingredient in the first challenge and was honest, so they had to disqualify him.  Which in turn earned him a spot on the view.  Check out their website http://www.smallcakescupcakery.com/

We stopped at the Arch!

Baby Gifts

I have been invited to several baby showers recently.  So these are gifts that I made for all the new mommy to bes.

Cupcake onesies, tutorial found here

Washcloth lollipops, very easy to google a tutorial

Eat. Play. Sleep. Repeat.  I quilted this for a college friend and roomie.  This is for her new baby girl Isabelle.  The gender was unknown until delivery, so I choice bright primary colors for either a boy or girl to enjoy.  This pattern is compliments of V. and Co

And the latest project a minky blanket.  I followed the general outline here.  Mine is a little bit bigger.  This is a for a baby girl.

Pinterest Fun

So if any of you are on Pinterest you have probably seen the crayon art pin.  Well I tried it to see what all the fuss was about, plus I had some ideas for doing something different with it and needed to see how the wax would do.  So here is my crayon art……..

 

I put random colors next to one another instead of keeping like colors together. I think the impact is greater when it looks more like the color spectrum.  I think that the use of the hair dryer on high at close range caused for the splatters, and running together of colors, but I like the overall effect.  Unfortunately the wax would be a problem for me to create what I wanted to create with the crayon art.

I guess I have been busy since my last post.  My Saturdays are dominated by FOOTBALL, especially Clemson Tiger football.  I hope they continue their winning streak this Saturday against Boston College. 

GO TIGERS!

Forever

This summer has been super busy for me. And I have hardly had time to blog, and barely anytime to be creative. I have a new project that I am working on but it is a gift so pictures will be posted once it is complete. I am competing in a fundraising event called Dancing with the Clarendon County Stars, and I am competing against other "stars" to dance and raise money for two local charities. The big night is August 6, so I am adding those final touches to my performance. I will post the results and pictures later!

For more information visit

Finally

 The gift has been given, so I can finally show it off!  This gift was for my best friend, who is on her honeymoon right now.  It was a wedding gift. 

Best Friends

Finished!

Opening

He proposed on the beach, I thought the initials in the sand was very appropriate. Hopefully I will get more stitching done on my newest project soon.

Trip to Iowa

Here are pictures from my recent trip to Des Moines.  It is a very interesting city and Iowa has a lot of neat small towns to visit.  But I am a little biased, my dad grew up in Iowa and I have been traveling to Iowa since I was a baby.

Slightly crooked capital picture

Historic Carousel

June TUSAL

I haven't been stitching that much lately so the snippets jar still looks the same

Will post more pictures later of my newest project!

Too Many Projects sooo little time

My head has been full of projects since I finished my secret gift!  I have started another cross stitch piece.  This is a gift for my grandmother.

 

Geese remind my family of my grandfather, and the red barn with the snow is a typical Iowa scene.  I have barely begun working on it.  

I am still plugging away at the blanket that I am knitting so that makes two projects.

My other project ideas are baby quilts, I have two friends that are expecting later this year, and I want to do something special for them.  I really like this design from Moda Bake Shop for one of the friends.  And an Eric Carle inspired Hungry Caterpillar Quilt like this

for the other friend.  I haven't made the final decision on the pattern yet, but I loved Carle's books when I was younger, and this friend is a teacher so it is appropriate.  

So lots of projects are in my head, it is just getting them made, on top of having to work!  

May TUSAL

Haven't done much since the last time, I am taking a short break, but will begin a new project soon.

How does my flower pot grow

I love plants!  Which is a good thing since I majored in landscape architecture and work as a horticulture agent.  So I was surfing around the web doing research for a newspaper article when I stumbled across this container recipe California Dreamin at Proven Winners.  Being a Clemson girl I had to try it out, plus it has two of my favorites plants in it, coleus, and million bells!  So here is my take on the California Dreamin recipe

  Getting everything together

Cheesin while I work

Make sure there is enough potting soil

And the finished product!

The pot is from Home Depot, and the flowers were purchased from our State Farmers Market plant sale weekend.  If you have a tiny space or even want to brighten up a spot, containers are a great way to try out your green thumb.  I can’t wait for this to fill out more and really show off the orange and purple!

Go Tigers!

What Next

Yay! I have finished the gift and it is being framed as I type!  So I ahead of schedule for giving it.  I am super excited about this and can’t wait to show you but I want to share it with the recipient first.  So here is a reminder of what it looked like before….

So now I have to decide what to work on next……

Oh the choices!   

And like many of you I am sure this does not even begin to cover the stash! These are just the pieces I want to start before others.  But I have decided to do another gift this time for my grandmother.  It is not very clear but the second kit on the second row is a winter corn field with a red barn and geese flying over.  Canadian geese are very special to my family because they remind us of my grandfather, so I want to work on that piece and hope to give it to her for Christmas. 

Here is an update on the BF’s piece, he thought he would beat me, ha

Right now I am back to working on my knitting at least for a little while, I hope to divide my time evenly between the time from here on out.

Happy Stitching!

Almost finished

I am so close to being finished with my most recent project, sorry no pictures it has been personalized and don't want the recipient to have any clue about this present, only a handful people know what it is but the clock is ticking so I am getting back to a lazy day of stitching!

April TUSAL

Here is my April TUSAL

The deadline for this gift is fast approaching so I have to get busy on it!

Happy stitching!

New Stash

I am always looking for cross stitch shops, and I had a hard time trying to find this last one, The Needler in Lexington.  I kept driving past it then turning around, and driving past again.  But I had parked and walked around the downtown area to take pictures for a work presentation, and it was right behind me and I never noticed!  Once I finally found it I looked around and got three new patterns to add to my collection

Clemson (to combat the USC project)

And Jeanne over at Willow Tree Stitcher is working on a beautiful Pride and Prejudice sampler, I have been interested in various Jane Austen samplers so I found this one at The Needler and just had to have it!

Hopefully I will get a lot of work done this weekend on my project the deadline for giving it away is quickly approaching.

Carrie