Chalk Table

Have you noticed lately that anything and everything can be a chalkboard?

Last month, we were going to build our little Harold an easel for his room. While I was at Ikea one day, I saw these little tables for 12 dollars. They came in a few different colors. 

I was thinking how it would be the perfect size for his room and we wouldnt have to mess with building an easel. But it didnt have a chalkboard or anything on it....yet! I went to Home Depot, got some chalkboard spray, and instantly had a chalkboard table.

Pleated Purse Pattern

After checking out a *new to me* fabric store from my sister in law's recommendation today, I got fabric to make a purse I have been looking at for awhile now here at My Spare Time.

It will be a good summer bag and I hope to make a couple more for myself. Different colors, different lengths and different strap lengths. Now that I know how to do the corners and pleats, it will be fun to do variations.

When life gives you lemons,

make a cute bag set!

My sister bought this fabric last week and asked me to make a simple totebag for her books. 

These pictures just dont show how cute it is. I made it up as I went along, with a curved bottom and a thicker strap on bottom that narrows at the top. Then I made a matching wristlet/pouch for it as well. Sorry for poor quality of pictures:

Little Boy's Star Apron

I thought this was a fun apron to make for a little boy that wanted an apron. His sister is getting the pink and black/white one!

Jaden dressed himself today. I asked him to model the apron for me and when I saw he still had his crazy socks on, it made me laugh. ...and the jersey is constantly being worn/washed.

Lensbaby and New Necklace

I got a lensbaby for my birthday last year and havent gotten it out as much as I had thought I would (and as much as my husband would like). It was kind of initimidating to me and I didnt know as much as I do now (not that I know that much at all now) so I never reached for it.

Today has been kind of an eh day for me. I dont feel like putting all this laundry away or do dishes from lunch (ok and breakfast) and I dont feel like anything else that makes a mess, so I took my camera outside and started shooting pictures of the plants around me. 

While I was outside, I remembered I made this necklace this morning after I got home from errands with the boys and thought how pretty it would be on one of the sunflowers blooming (we have a few now!)

Then I decided to take a deep breath and try the lensbaby again. Its been awhile. Played around with the settings and got this: 

I thought it would be fun to play around with it in photoshop too.

So I still need to work on the focus point (its manual focus) but I think I may be getting the lighting right?! Its a little bit dark still but its a start! Now I am excited to keep working with this lens.

Boutique THIS Saturday!

@ the Grove church on Queen Creek and Gilbert Road. 9 am- 2pm!

Looks like some fun vendors are going to be there, so come check it out if you can!

This recent painting (and the tree I did) will be among all my sewing and necklace goods :) (I am really enjoying painting. I think my favorite way of painting is just painting something in my head rather than from something in real life or from a photograph)

First sunflower of the year!

Our yard is blooming with all sorts of flowers, but we were very excited to wake up to see this sunflower blooming. Sunflowers are special in our home, and its always neat to see something that started from a seed turn into a flower.

Crafty Apron

I needed an apron that had a few pockets for when I am painting and crafting. 

Remember these fun aprons? I had a little bit of fabric left and used it to make this! 

And then I appliqued a little flower and doubled two buttons:

Little Tree, Little Tree

This week as I am getting ready for the upcoming boutique on Saturday, I was trying to think of a way to display the necklaces I have been working on. So today, my husband and I trekked to Home Depot to see what we could make.

 It first started out that we were going to do an easel type board that I would decorate and put hooks on.  Well. Home Depot just didnt have the right type of wood at the right price, and honestly, I wasn't feeling the easel board.

Then we went over to Lowe's, which I always like to go to a lot more. We looked at their wood and found something but I still wasn't feeling it.I kept mentioning doing a tree and he would just kind of ignore it.

I went over to the dowels to pick out little pegs instead of hooks and our brains kicked into gear and together we came up with this:

 I probably still will decorate it, but I have a lot of fun ideas for it in the future too!

Baby Cocoon

Last week, whenever I got tired of sewing, I would do random projects here and there. This was one of them:

Yep! Thats Charlie Brown! He's in a knitted baby cocoon for a photography prop. I have seen them on Etsy and love them but are a bit too pricey, so I made my own on a green knifty knitter loom. Score :) I am going to make another with a thicker natural yarn. This was a quick test run.

Thanks Charlie Brown for being such a good spot!

Wristlets

Happy Birthday Little Sister! She turned 20 yesterday :)

She had been asking me to make a wristlet for awhile now, so I made her TWO!


Excuse the blur, she was a little excited...

bloom (where you are planted)

Freehanded this painting yesterday (no sketching first) then added vinyl.  i love it. it will look so pretty framed and will be available for purchase when it is dry. cool brush textures on the sky.

Oranges+Jacked=no more

Yep. Right after I took a picture of these two baby oranges, my son (appropriately named Jackson) came and jakked them off the tree....then tried to feed them to the dog. I found 6 baby oranges in his food bowl.

New Aprons

These aprons will be available for purchase next week! I have been making them up as I go, which can be both fun and frustrating! I hope to do a couple more this week.

Reversible with detachable bow!

this one has a front pocket that blends in with the fabric.

cute back

Courdoroy with fun pink cotton fabric and muslin fabric ruffles

Rainy Day Thoughts

Internet was down, life was happening, and posting didn't!

I was looking at scrapbooks with the boys the other day and sharing our past special moments with them, realizing how cool it is to have some of our stories and moments captured. 

This led to me to realize that out of all of the books we have made, I have't shared nearly as many pages on my blog! I will be sharing some of my favorites here and there. Some older maybe not as "hip" pages, but special pages to us.  

In other news, this past week, I have been busy sewing, creating and getting ready for boutiques and etsy shop updates. I can't wait to share!

And ending thoughts: this weekend, as we focus on the Ressurection of Jesus, I am so thankful for our family that God has blessed me with, our health, the roof over our head, the clothes on our back and the food on our table. He provides us with everything we need, including our salvation if we choose to follow Him.  

While the sewing takes over our bedroom..

thought I would post some of the jewelry I have been working on. I love the silver spoon jewelry and would really like to do more with spoons. 

My husband made the ring and I made the necklace (which is a little messy...first spoon I tried):

...and the washer necklaces. All will be for sale at the next boutique I am doing in addition to a few more.

Stop and Smell the Roses

Mmm they smell so good! I went and cut a bunch of roses from our bushes this morning after breakfast and arranged them in a jar for our desk. I am sitting here smelling them now.  I love Spring.

There is a lot to get done today and there is a lot of potential to get stressed out over some of the things that need to get done today, but I know that I don't have to. God is in control. 

Psalm 73:28  But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works.

Sickness, Sewing and Such

I have been busy the last couple of days. I am doing a couple of boutiques at the end of the month and have been racking my brain and going through my stash on what I should do for it. I have gotten a good start on it, and am excited to be offering some fun necklaces as well as an assortment of sewing items. So I will be busy sewing and creating for the next couple of weeks! And the challenge will be using only stuff I already have here!

I also started to do my new wallet but after several failed attempts at a certain spot, I gave it up for now. I was trying to sew through so many layers of courdoroy, and I have been sick the past few days, that I just didn't want to deal with it anymore. So I still want to do the wallet and a matching purse.

Yep, we are sick again here. Can't wait for it to leave the house so we can move on! 

I'll leave with a picture of some pretty purple flowers we have out back.

Took a sewing break.

Made a couple of necklaces with my mom and sister today. I am really enjoying making jewelry. I love having new stuff to freshen up boring outfits! 

Metal Necklaces

Playing around a bit with metal stamping. Once I can get it down to a even pressure and straight looking, these will be in the etsy shop soon... I will be able to do custom ones! and I am hoping to get a smaller font on Sunday.

Perfect for Mother's Day coming up!



I have so many ideas with these. And extra add-ons with them as well.



PS...the dress form isn't finished but it worked perfect for these!

Jude's Blanket

I adore the colors and fabric on this blanket! Looking forward to seeing Baby Jude using it in May/June!

Glass Etching

Last week, I saw glass etch here and really liked how it turned out. I havent ever been a fan of glass etch look, but I really liked the monogram on the truffle bowl and wanted to try too.

 A little goes a long way, and I think that the teensy tiny 3 oz bottle could etch my whole house. I am going to do some dishes and a serving tray I have too.

Chalk Cloth into Art Bag

I made this little kit for the boys during church. One side of the bag is a "chalkboard", one side is a crayon holder (still need to add the snaps and applique a "T" on it", and inside holds a drawing pad and a pocket for markers. Theres a chalk holder that is tied onto the bag, and a cloth to wipe the chalkboard off too. My back has been hurting, so I wasnt able to put a ton of attention towards it, but I think its going to work fine for the boys!

I love this chalk cloth. I am going to make some tags up and maybe a placemat. Definitely the tags though. I only bought a fat quarter, so I want to stretch it as far as it will go!

Crayon Side



Chalk Side



Inside



Accessories