Carrie's Christmas Workshop

I have been a busy elf for the past month! I am really trying to make all my gifts this year, well, except for the men in the family....they just don't seem to be interested in all my crafty things...

I have been sewing, sewing, sewing, with some more sewing still to do but I wanted to post some pics of some of what I've made so far.

My awesome Mommie gave me a Moda Jellyroll, and yardage of Mary Engelbreit Christmas fabric and I used it all up and made...

Purses big and small and quilted covered journals:



I had just enough of the strips left to cover these Christmas journals I found at Michael's.
There is a tutorial for covering journals at MODA BAKESHOP.


Those last little purses are so cute and easy to make!! Find the tutorial for personal use HERE.
The pattern does not call for quilted fabric, I just chose to use fabric I had quilted =)

Then I made some fabric covered monogrammed 2010 day planners.

These day planners came from Michael's, and they have a nice cardboard cover, and fit in your purse and were only $1! I used the NO-Sew HeatNBond to attach the letters, and they will be stuck for good...

Then for the dogs lovers I bought some new leashes that have reflective threads weaved into them, and added bows and attached via split ring, little fabric bags to hold the plastic bags we need to take with us.

This is one for my friend Frannie who loves Mickey so much her beloved pooch is named Mickey =)

I still have several bags to finish and some other goodies to bake...wish me luck because I NEED it!! My first holiday guests arrive Saturday!

Happy Kitty ;)

Okay, another swap done! Only 2 more to go woo hoo!
This was the Sock Doll Swap on Craftster....now I love making creatures from socks, so even though I NEED a sock creature like I NEED a migraine, I couldn't resist.
Here a couple sock cuties I created in the past:


You can't go wrong with socks, they have great patterns, colors and are soft. And, if you get them at your dollar store they are CHEAP!
My partner for this swap wanted something "cute A/O pretty" and she like cats, so this is what I came up with:


Hope she loves her! My partner should receive it today, so we shall see...
I heard from my partner in the Book Club Swap and she loved her goodies, and has already been using the patchwork bag and wore one of the headbands, yay!
On the Christmas front, last night I cut out and interfaced all the fabric for 10 bags! Now I can start the sewing. I am so proud of myself, but must confess I stayed up too late and today I am dragging. Oh, well, no pain no gain right?
Hope you are having a great weekend!

It's November?!?!?

I am starting to feel the panic already. =) Seems like I just put up all the Halloween decorations and today they are coming down! =(
I have a LONG list of projects and things needing to be done by Christmas...hope I can manage it. I am also in the middle of 4 swaps, why did I do that to myself?? But one more swap is done yay!!
Here are the pics of what I sent:
Patchwork Bag for her knitting projects

A knitting needle case, here it is rolled up:

And unrolled:

And some fabric headbands made with Heather Bailey's Tutorial

I also sent 3 skeins of Vanna's Choice yarn in her fave colors.
Now they are off to the opposite end of the country, San Jose CA. Safe travels!
I winged the needle case, so hopefully it will work...the headbands are quick and fun to make and will definitely be on my Christmas gift making list. The only issue is you kind of have to know how big the person's head is you are making it for. Hopefully these will fit her.
My goal this year is to make most/all of the gifts we give...do you think I can do it??

Halloween Gifting

One of my best friends here has 2 daughters, both of whom have October birthdays. I am in such a Halloweeen crafting mood right now, so I went that theme for their gifts! They received sock skeletons, cat zipper pouches with gift cards inside and other Halloween trinkets.

Robert Mahar of Mahar Dry Goods was recently on Martha and featured his sock skeleton. If you are a fan of making sock dolls I highly recommend giving this a try! I had a lot of fun making them.
Then I packed them up in some Halloween boxes I found at Target, just added a felt ruffle to the top.

If you are interested in the zipper pouches, they are from an Indygo Junction pattern, I make them smallest size, but I don't add any polyfill, makes it easier to put things in the pouch ;)

So true ;)

There is a blog I follow called Whimsy Love, the author Nikki is very inspiring and talented and I always love to see what she is posting.
Her post today really rang true for me, as I am enjoying a surprise visit from my Mother and Grandmother. Both of whom are very creative and talented and have made me many wonderful things over the course of my life.
Anyway, take a peek at her post, I think you'll like it ;)
Whimsy Love

Coraline!

Happy Friday! Okay, just a warning, this post has a ton of photos in it so hang in there =) My partner just received her package in the Coraline Round 2 Swap on Craftster so now I can post all the pics! I loved this swap and making all these goodies, I think it was one of my fave swaps ever!

So, my partner's fave character in the movie/book was Coraline's Dad and since he wore a Michigan State sweatshirt in the movie, I made a bag for her from a sweatshirt I bought on eBay:

I used the Birdie Sling pattern from Amy Butler, but had to modify it a little because of the size of the sweatshirt. The pattern also called for pleats, but that wouldn't work so I skipped them entirely WOO HOO, I hate making pleats.

I added a fabric flower with a Coraline button in the center since her Dad was such a great gardener:

It's on a pin back so she can remove it if she wants too.

Next I made a little Pink Palace pouch. The Pink Palace is the old Victorian house split up into apartments that Coraline and her family move into:


This is the back, I embroidered Pink Palace, just in case she was like, "What the heck is this??" HAHAHA I used the tutorial HERE but made some modifications. OOOH how cute would a haunted house pouch be?? Okay, I digress...back on task!


Then of course I had to make some sort of plush, so I went with the circus mice! This is how I packaged it, cute little circus mouse with little gray rats:


And here he is on his own:


Then I was kind of stuck on what else to make so I went back and read through my partner's questionnaire...and saw that she really wanted a t-shirt. Woops..totally missed that one. Off to Joann's for fabric paint and a t-shirt. Then spent the next afternoon painting this on the top front of the shirt:

I tried to make her smirking....eh, not so great but not so bad. I just saw a pic of my partner wearing it and it actually looks great and she loves it!

Then for good measure I added a pumpkin pin cushion I made because she is a sewer and they are just too darn cute!

Here is a tutorial for the Pumpkin. When I stuffed mine I used plastic pellets in the bottom and made the shape of the pumpkin a little more round. Oh, and I added a vintage button on top for the stem.
Okay, I think that was a long enough post! Thanks for hanging with me =) Have a great weekend! xo Carrie

Wow, it's October!

Hello everyone! Happy fall y'all. Hope it's fall where you are, here in Florida we are still steamy. I miss fall!
But, I am still crafting for fall of course. And big time into swapping right now. Swapping seems to go in cycles for me...I swear off swaps and then there are times, like now I have been signed up for 6 swaps.

My most recently completed swap was a Halloween Altoid Swap on Craftster. My partner is a horror movie fan, as am I, especially the movie Halloween. Now, I am an old school Halloween fan, so I went with that.
This is the outside of the tin:

I attempted to make a pumpkin like that shown in the movie (notice I wrote attempted)haha and a street sign for Haddonfield which is the town the movie took place in.

Then the inside of the tin:

What always scared me the most in Halloween was when Michael would look in the window at his awaiting victim. So I tried to make a window frame for Micheal to peer into. I painted Michael's head/mask on layered cardstock and use wood trim for the frame. Oh, and added a quote from Dr. Loomis about Micheal.

This is a pic of the whole package:

I had a lot of fun making this tin and my partner seemed to love it!
Next I will post the Coraline Swap goodies, they are currently in transit, so I don't want to spoil it for my partner =)