DIY beaded necklace!

I was so excited when House of Gems contacted me about an amazing opportunity, in which they provided me with all the supplies I needed to make a DIY jewelry project! 

 

There were so many gorgeous beads to choose from, but I particularly loved the Iolite gemstone beads. 

 

DIY Iolite gemstone necklace

(For a list of supplies please scroll to the bottom of this post)

 

 1) Cut 14" of beading wire & string the Iolite beads in this order:

teardrop, *roundelle, round, roundelle, teardrop* (repeat order of beads between the *s until the strand is 9.5" long.

 

 

 

2) Cut 12.5" of beading wire & string the Iolite beads in this order: 

*round, 2 roundelle*, repeat 6 times. 

Add a Sterling silver satin oval bead

then add Iolite beads:*2 roundelle, round*, repeat 3 times

then 1 roundelle bead

Add another Sterling silver satin oval bead

then Iolite beads: *2 roundelle, round* repeat 6 times

(total length of stringed beads is approximately 8 inches)



 3) Cut 12" of beading wire & string Iolite beads in this order:

*teardrop, round, teardrop, Sterling silver round stardust spacer* repeat 7 times

finish strand with Iolite beads: teardrop, round, teardrop

(total length of beaded strand is approximately 7")

 

4) Attach ends of beading wire (from steps 1-3) to the Sterling silver connectors, using crimping beads in order listed below.  *The beading wire I chose couldn't be threaded through the beads a 2nd time (to hide the tail of the wire once connected) so using a slightly smaller diameter of beading wire may give a more finished look* (House of Gems has a nice selection of beading wire to choose from!)

 

The strand from step 1 is the longest, and should be connected to the lowest of the 3 connecting loops on both sides

 

The strand from step 2 should be connected to the 2 middle loops, and the strand from step 3 should be connected to the top loops.

 

 

5) Next, cut two 6 inch strands of bulk chain, and attach a split ring to each of the 4 ends of chain

6) Now, attach the split rings on one end of each of the 2 strands of chain to the loop on the connector (opposite of the side where the beads were attached)

7) Finally, attach a Sterling silver spring ring on one of the loose strands of the bulk chain (that has a split ring on it)

 

 

Supplies from House of Gems:

Sterling silver satin oval beads 4x6 mm

Sterling silver 2mm crimp beads

Sterling silver split ring 4mm

Sterling silver connector 2x8mm 3 rows

Sterling silver bulk chain small curb light weight (1.2x1.9mm)

Sterling silver spring ring findings 5mm

Sterling silver round stardust spacer findings 2.5mm

Iolite beads faceted center drilled teardrop 5x8mm

Iolite beads smooth round shape ~3mm

Iolite beads faceted roundelle shape 5mm

Soft touch beading wire - stainless steel nylon coated 30 ft (0.019 inch diameter)

 

 

Thank you House of Gems!

 

 



finals... & Black Friday sales

Won't be updating my blog for a couple weeks... it's final exam time  (eek!  but, at least that means I'm getting close to a much needed break from school)

I finally invested in a serger, (thanks to the great sales) and am really excited to try it out when I'm done with exams.  Hopefully it isn't too hard to figure out!  Other sweet finds for this years black Friday/cyber Monday sales were wool yarn, an assortment of fabrics, and a bunch of interfacing.  Depending on how much time I have (I have so many projects in mind for break :)  ) I'm hoping to attempt to make a Katniss cowl.  Should be interesting!

See you in a couple weeks.

Sea Glass

A couple more sea glass pendants that I made :)

 

sea glass pendant



sea glass pendant



Sea themed Fabric book! (pg 9 & 10)

In case you missed it:

Sea themed fabric book! (pg 1 & 2)

Sea themed fabric book! (pg 3 & 4)

Sea themed fabric book! (pg 5 & 6)
Sea themed fabric book! (pg 7 & 8)

Here it is, the end of the fabric book!  For pages 9 & 10 the shapes were attached to the pages using iron on adhesive, and the eye details and words were done in puffy paint.


Starfish - page 9
 

sea themed fabric book - starfish

Angel fish - page 10

 



sea themed fabric book - angel fish

 

I stitched 3 buttons on this page to look like bubbles, and to give a different texture.

Knit mug koozie!

I just love knitting projects that you can complete in a short time & don't require too much thought.  (as opposed to the baby blanket I have been working on for.... YEARS haha, that's another story) Last year I was really into making these while watching TV at night.  They go pretty quick! 

 

knit koozie

 

 

This was my first time doing a cable stitch, and it was not as scary as I thought it would be :)

Sea themed Fabric book! (pg 7 & 8)

In case you missed it:

Sea themed fabric book! (pg 1 & 2)

Sea themed fabric book! (pg 3 & 4)

Sea themed fabric book! (pg 5 & 6)
Sea themed fabric book! (pg 9 & 10)

 

Here are pages 7 & 8!  (next week I will post the final 2 pages, so be sure to come back to check it out!)

 

Page 7 - the Seahorse

 

Sea horse - sea themed fabric book

 

 The scrap fabrics I used on the seahorse were from: this spring jacket, and this pirate costume skirt, and the other fabric is from a pair of pajama pants I made.

 

All of the shapes making up the sea horse were attached to each other and then to the page with iron on adhesive.

 

 

Page 8 - the Stingray

 

stingray - sea themed fabric book

This gray material has gotten a lot of use!  I can't remember how many yards of it I bought but I made this fleece pullover, this fleece jacket and this cat bed.  I still have a lot of scraps from this fabric left, so I imagine you will see it pop up again :)

 

The flannel material used to make the pages was leftover fabric from this cut chenille blanket

 

 

Cut Chenille Blanket

I absolutely love cut chenille blankets!

 

cut chenille baby blanket - whale fabric

 

They are so much fun, so whenever I forget just how long they take to make (a loooooong time), I start another one haha.  After making a couple of these, I gave in and purchased an Olfa Chenille Cutter, and I must say... It is awesome. If only I'd have gotten one sooner :)

 

For this blanket, I chose to do a decorative stitch in the shape of circles to attach the binding.

 

I have stacks of fabric set aside to make a couple more of these, maybe over my winter break I'll do another one!

 

**Check out the fun use of my leftover fabric from this blanket as the cover of this Fabric texture book**



Sea themed Fabric Book! (pg 5 & 6)

Check out pages 1 & 2 of the cloth book, pages 3 & 4 of the cloth book
**update: pages 7 & 8 of the book here, pages 9 & 10 of the book**

 

Page 5 - the Crab

 

fabric texture book - crab

 

Does the red fabric look familiar?  It's a scrap piece from Hubby's Prince William costume from Halloween a couple years ago!

 

 

 Page 6 - the Octopus!

fabric texture book - octopus

Fabric scraps from a dress I made way back when

 

It's so much fun actually getting to use scrap fabric for a project, I love going through and remembering all the projects I've worked on in the past :)

 

Pages 6 & 7 will be posted soon!



Halloween Costume - Boo from Monsters Inc!

Here is a flashback to one of my more memorable costumes from college.  Oh how I miss Halloween festivities back in the day :) (didn't make a new costume this year, so sad!  school/exams/limited luggage space got in the way... maybe next year)

 

Here it is.... BOO from Monsters Inc!

Monsters Inc. - Boo costume

 

This costume was so much fun to make.  It took a bit of trial and error, but that was half the fun!

 

Here's how it was made:

Head: 2 hula hoops, mop, craft foam (for teeth), 2 toy rubber balls (covered in fabric for the eyes), purple fabric

 

Body: Hula hoop at top (which is where the head and body connected also), craft foam (for teeth), belt used for shoulder straps (connected to hula hoop to hold costume up), purple fabric

 

Tentacle arms & shoe covers: white fabric with circles stamped on it (using silver puffy paint for some texture),  I cut slits in the fabric for the arm tentacles so that you could use your hands

 

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Crocheted hats!

I've been crocheting on my study breaks lately, & here are 3 of my most recent projects!

 

I'm probably going to add cute faces/designs onto the ear flap hats when I get home from school (aka when I have access to different colors of yarn)

 

crocheted hats!

 

 

More crochet projects to come!

Sea themed Fabric book! (pg 3 & 4)

Check out last weeks post to see page 1 & 2 of this fabric texture book! (and pages 5 & 6 of the cloth book!)

 

 **update: pages 7 & 8 of the book & pages 9 & 10 of the fabric book here**

 

 

Page 3 - Turtle

 

The turtles shell fabric was cut from a scrap of fabric that I made a baby blanket out of for my niece.  The ric-rac is leftover from a quiet book page

 

The turtle was attached to the page with iron on adhesive, and the ric-rac is sewn on. 

fabric texture book - turtle

 

Page 4 - Oyster

This orange & white material was leftover from a tank top type shirt that I made back in college.  The pearl is a layer of pearly white puffy paint, and then a layer of sparkly puffy paint, to give a slightly different texture.

 

The oyster shell & eyes were attached with iron on adhesive.

fabric texture book - oyster

 

Come back next week to see pages 5 & 6!

Burlap & Lace Wreath

I've been wanting to make a burlap wreath for so long!  But always forget about them when I actually get to the store, so it was perfect that I nearly walked into everything I needed for the project as it was set up on a cute display in the center of the aisle :)

 

burlap & lace wreath

 

I wasn't quite sure how to wrap the burlap, but thanks to the internet, found lots of helpful instructions.  I bought a medium sized wire frame for the wreath, and one roll of the burlap which had an overlay of lace attached to it.  I can't remember how long the rolls were... but it turns out I needed 2.  You could easily cut your own strips of burlap instead of using the rolls of it, which I may do in the future.

 

After securing the burlap, I attached a couple silk flowers to the wreath and that was it!  Super quick project, it took about 10-15 minutes to make. 

Last minute pirate Halloween costume!

Other Halloween costume ideas & tutorials: Thing 1 & Thing 2, Royal wedding style William & Kate, DIY petticoat, more pirate or witch costume pieces, (more mix & match pirate costume pieces), & Dorothy & the Lion

----------------------------------------------------------

 

 

This pirate costume is so simple to make and can be done very last minute!

 

I just made a basic skirt (with an elastic waistband), grabbed a tank top from my closet, and cut a sash from some scrap fabric and left the edges raw.  Then, I took a couple long strands of hemp and tied knots (maybe every 10 inches or so) and added beads & fake coins to it, and tied that over the other sash.

Simple & comfortable DIY pirate costume

 

That's all. You can easily pair this with an eye patch or bandana, or other accessories

 

 

Sea themed Fabric book! (pg 1 & 2)

Do you have a bunch of little pieces of fabric from old projects that are too big to throw out, but too little to do much with?  Yeah, that big ol' scrap fabric stash that you know you'd have use for in the future...  Well here's a great scrap busting project!  It's so much fun reminiscing on the projects all your scraps are from too :)

 

I made a sea themed fabric texture book for my sweet little niece, and will be sharing 2 pages at a time for the next couple of weeks, so be sure to stop on by again in the next weeks to check it out!

 

I made the cover from fabric leftover from a cut chenille blanket.  The main pages are also made from leftover fabric from that blanket - all the layers of flannel!  Basically the size of the book was determined by the size of those scraps.  I left the edges raw to add more texture.

 

Fabric texture book

 

I've also been super into making Quiet Book pages, so I have tons of pieces of ric-rac, which I thought would add a little pizazz

Page 1: Whale

 

I cut out the shapes of the whale and used iron on adhesive to attach it to the flannel.  The netting is just sewn on in a few places to secure it.

 

The light blue fabric was from this dress that oops... I never finished!  All the pieces are cut...

Oh and that dark blue fabric sure looks familiar.... from Hubby's Prince William Halloween costume

The blue netting was leftover from fixing up an old butterfly net that had holes in it & also made a tutu with I believe (apparently I'm more behind on blogging than I realized!)

Fabric book - whale page

 

I wrote the words and did accents with puffy paint, thinking the texture would be cool.  But, I'm not so crazy about how the lettering came out & next time would use stencils.

 

 

Page 2 - Jellyfish

 

I used iron on adhesive for the purple part of the jellyfish and the eyes.  I stitched a line at the bottom of the purple fabric for added security that the ribbons would stay in place.

fabric book - jellyfish page

 

The purple fabric was leftover from a pair of pajama pants I made on my travel sewing machine while in college (many years ago)!  One day I'll post about that too... it was kind of funny :) 

 

The ribbon sewn on the bottom of the jelly fish was ribbon used for favors at my wedding!

 

**Pages 3 & 4 of this cloth book**
**Pages 5 & 6 of this cloth book**
**Pages 7 & 8 of the book here**
**Pages 9 & 10 of the fabric book **

Sea glass charms!

Some of my most recent sea glass charms!

 

sea glass pendants

 

I absolutely love making these :)

Doily garland!

Last winter, I helped make decorations for my friends baby shower :)  Her nursery colors were blue & orange, and let me tell you, I found it pretty tricky to get orange decorations at the store.  So, I bought some white paper doilies and some orange Rit dye and made my own.  I poured enough of the dye in the bottom of my pot (that I use only for craft projects) and added water to it, so it was probably about a 50:50 solution.

 

Mixed that all together, then added each doily individually into the mixture, making sure they were covered with the dye on both sides, and were not touching each other.  (I could dye about 3 at a time in my container) 

 

GLOVES came in handy :)  Though I do believe I still had an orange finger in the end.

 

Each doily was probably only in the dye about 5-10 seconds, then I took them out and set them on a stack of old rags so they could air dry.

 

Once they were dry, I cut a long piece of kite string and strung the doilies onto it.  After the spacing looked OK, I added scotch tape to the back of the doily (over the string) to keep it all in place.

 

DIY Orange doily garland!

 

It was so much fun to make :)

 

Didn't get a picture of them hanging on the wall though, oh well.

cloth towel "wet bin"

Hubby & I have been using cloth "paper towels" lately and cloth napkins.  To avoid having to run to the laundry bin after each meal, we now have a wet bin under our kitchen sink.  I empty this out whenever I do laundry, or if it gets full.

 

I used a plastic coffee container, and Mod Podge to add a strip of fabric for a little more decorative look, and also to easily identify the bin.

Wood floors! (living room)

Well summer is almost over for me, and it has been very busy!  Hubby & I did lots of home improvements and DIY projects that I can't wait to share with you all now that they're done, so stay tuned :)  (I'll hopefully be able to post a few updates before classes start)

Our largest project was installing hardwood floor in our house.  One of the rooms to get "made over" was our living room.  The carpet was so dirty/gross, it was well overdue for a change.

BEFORE

Changes made to living room:

Floor: carpet to hardwood

Ceiling fan: new unit, now with a light (major difference at night!)

Painted walls

Curtains

Window valance

Throw pillows

AFTER

Only thing I'd still like to change... would be to remove the spindles on our half wall on the left side of the room.  Possibly changing it to a larger platform and have a more modern pillar or something on one side?  Still looking into that, but it wouldn't be until next summer anyways (if at all).

finally back!

Last semester was crazy, but the summer is FINALLY here!!  I've been off of school for a couple weeks now, but finally made it home.  I went on a school related trip, chilling with these ladies:

 

 

then went to visit family with Hubby.

 

Good times, but I'm glad to be back! (except for all of the unpacking left to do :)  )

 

I have been trying to convince Hubby for almost 5 years now that the lighting fixtures in our house needed updating.  He completely disagreed, so it was one of those things I'd randomly bring up hoping he'd change his mind... but wasn't going to just change them without him being on board.  So, on our recent road trip, we ended up staying in a pretty run down hotel.  While eating breakfast at the hotel... what did we notice?  They had the same lights as we did at home in our kitchen, lol.  That is all it took for Hubby to finally realize it was time for a change :)

 

Yesterday we updated most of the lighting units in our house (though there are still some less important fixtures... like in the spare bedrooms, that I hope to change in the future.  More important things first though)

 

Now that there is actually light in our house, we can of course see how gross our carpets are (adopting an adult dog from a shelter who had much difficulty getting the concept of house breaking will quickly do that)  We have been toying with the idea of installing hardwood flooring at some point, and are now pricing things out.  We'll see if that project happens or not.  Maybe if the supplies go on sale!

 

We also went antiquing the other day and I may go back to pick up some more items.  They had beautiful, red handled old kitchen tools that I may get and mount on the wall above my kitchen cupboards as decoration.  We'll see about that too.

 

There was really old rick rack at the antique store too, that I almost got but put back.  It was reaaaallly skinny, unlike any I'd seen before.  Not sure what I'd use it for though, or if it'd be decoration.  Still thinking about that too :)

 

So many projects happening, but no sewing yet!  I'm excited to get back to sewing, but am not even sure what to work on first.  It has been far too long, and I have a feeling once I plug my sewing machine in I won't be able to leave it for days :)



Almost summer...

This semester has been brutal, but it's almost over!  Only a few more weeks until I'm reunited with my sewing machine for the summer :) 

Crocheted face scrubbies!

I am obsessed with face scrubbies now!  I absolutely hate it when you go to wash your face and the washcloth smells like mildew because it didn't dry out... after only one use. 

 

 

These little crocheted face scrubbies are the best thing ever.  They are about 3 inches in diameter, made from 100% cotton yarn.  They are super quick and easy to crochet, & take up less space than washcloths.  Plus, when you wash these, no folding is required :)

 

Also, they only take about 5 minutes to make one, so it's a perfect little study break craft for me!

 

my poor pillows

So this is part of the "repair" sewing I did over winter break.  These pillows (& unfortunately our couch) have been eaten by my dogs, and repaired too many times to count anymore.

 

 

The pillows are starting to become weird shapes.  The one on the right was after "fixing" it, and the pillow on the left is a tame version of what they both looked like after my dogs ate them (this time).  Want to know one thing that made stitching these pillows & the couch cushions back together easier?  Quilting clips! (wonder clips?)  They made my life so much easier, since it was too difficult to use regular pins to hold the fabric together.  Here's to hoping I won't need to do these "repairs" when I'm home for the summer.  I won't hold my breath. (we've had a lot of schedule changes and loss of routine that the pups are less than thrilled about)

Men's crocheted slippers

Here are the finished crocheted slippers I made for hubby!  I sure hope they fit :)  Now we have "his & hers"  slippers haha.

 

crocheted men's slippers
 

It has been a rough last couple of weeks.  This past week we had exams in nearly every class... and of course, my body decided to get ridiculously sick the weekend before.  Needless to say, I got very behind & wasn't able to study like I wanted to (& without being able to study... that means I didn't get crafting study breaks!)

 

I am hoping to get caught up soon & will hopefully get my crafty time back :)  But in the mean time... I have lots of notes to go over (and ink stains to remove from laundry... fell asleep on colored pens & highlighters lol, yup).

Sea glass!

Took a little stroll at the beach and found these.  I'm so excited to make sea glass jewelry out of them this summer.  A couple of the pieces are quite large, which I was thinking might look cool in a jar or around a candle or something, we'll see.  I'd love to hear your ideas :)

 

Yarn!

I didn't bring much yarn to school with me... thinking I wouldn't use it much, but I have already made several things and knew my yarn wouldn't last all term.  Not knowing if/where you can buy yarn here, I just figured I'd have to plan better next semester.  Well, my classmate went to the States for the weekend, and offered to bring things back for people!

 

I asked for yarn, if she had space, and here is what she brought back!!  I am beyond excited :)  I was thinking she'd bring a skein or, if I was lucky maybe 2.  WOW!

 

I currently have 1 of hubby's slippers done (made from the same blue yarn as my crocheted slippers) and have other projects in mind!  I crochet or knit on my study breaks to relax :)

Crocheted dish cloth

This dishcloth was quick and easy to make.  I just chained 30 or so, then the rest is rows of half double crochet.

 

Quick & Easy Crocheted dish cloth!

 

I am so excited for the weekend, and am so tired from classes.  This past Monday morning, while walking to my first lab, I was excited that it was Friday.... yeah, it was destined to be a long week! 

 

I found some sea glass at the beach a couple weeks ago, and am so excited to make something out of it this summer!  I LOVE sea glass :)  Unfortunately I didn't bring any jewelry making supplies here, so knitting and crocheting will have to do for now.

Crocheted slippers: Complete!

I am SO happy to have knitting and crocheting supplies with me at school.  I've been going through my yarn quicker than I thought I would though.  I'm not sure if/where you can get things like yarn here, so fortunately one of my classmates is in the States this weekend & she's bringing me back some!  Classwork will be getting crazier with each passing day, so who knows if my craft time will continue... but hopefully!  It's how I unwind :)

 

 

Crocheted ballet style slippers

 

Here are my completed crocheted slippers!  They are pretty nice to wear during lectures in our cold classrooms :)  I told hubby I made myself some slippers, his response?  "Are you making me some next?"  How cute :)  I had no idea he'd want a pair.  Obviously his won't be Mary Jane or ballet slipper style, I'll have to find a more manly pattern.

 

Update: Check out hubby's crocheted slippers!

Crocheted slippers!

My 1st week of the semester is almost to an end, and I luckily had some time to crochet!  The classroom we're in this term is super cold, but since it's really hot outside, I always wear flip flops.  So, I crocheted some slippers to wear during lecture :)  It took me two evenings worth of study breaks to make them.  I'll post pictures of the final products soon, but here is the base of it!

 

Crocheted slippers in progress

 

I wore the slippers in class today, and they helped a little bit.  I'm currently working on knitting some fingerless glove type things, so hopefully I can add that to my classroom attire soon!  (maybe a hat and scarf too haha, we'll see)

 

Tomorrow, I may bring my fleece blanket.

back at school

I'm back at school & things are already in full gear... and today was only the first day!  I miss my sewing machine and craft cupboard like crazy, but luckily had some room in my bags to bring some knitting and crocheting back with me.  We'll see if I have any time to do that or not.

 

 

Over winter break I got a lot of crafting time in, so that was great.  I knitted a hat with cables, and crocheted a hat too.  Knitted several mug cozies, and sewed some little outfits (like these pajamas and these pajamas, and these boots, and others I have yet to post!)

 

I still have tons of projects to blog about that I've finished in the past, so I may post every now and then :)  Either way, I plan on posting more in the summer!

my poor tree skirt

Awhile back, I made this Tree skirt.  Well our dogs have always left it alone, until this year... I was steam cleaning the floor and removed the tree skirt from our tree (yes, the carpet was that bad so I didn't wait until the tree was taken down to clean it).  I set the folded tree skirt in a basket in our living room... and later found out someone bit a couple chunks out of it :(

 

I just stitched it back up and packed it away for the season, but now, instead of a nice smooth border to the tree skirt, a section in the back is now "scalloped".  Now the debate... to make a new tree skirt for next year? or not... tough call.

Baby boots! (or slippers)

I had so much fun making these little boots for my sweet little niece :)

 

Trendy boots for babies and toddlers!

 

Since I don't know much about baby and toddler sizing, I traced my nieces foot before making these.  Then, I found an image of a toddler sized shoe sole and printed it so it was slightly longer than her foot measurements (heel to toe) to allow for seam allowances and some growth.  I looked at patterns for the toe portion of the boot and changed them up so they would work together with the sole.  Then, I used paper to draw out the rest of the pattern.  It took a bit of tweaking before the pieces worked together :)

 

The buttons are decoration.  I sewed in Velcro closures, so the boots open up all the way down to the sole.

Christmas pajamas pt 2

More Christmas pajamas for the special little ones in our lives!

 

I made this outfit for my little niece.  To make the candy cane on the shirt, I used red rick rack (the same as on the pants) and twisted sparkly white/clear ribbon around it.  I then pinned the ribbons onto the shirt in the shape of a candy cane, and stitched down the center of the ribbons to connect it to the shirt.

Candy cane pajama top and bottoms

 

 

This is the outfit I made for our handsome little Godson.  To make the onesie I appliqued logos that I cut from the same fabric as the pants.

Appliqued Packer bodysuit and pajama pants

 

Check out the other Christmas pajamas I made this year!

Christmas pajamas pt 1

I made pajamas for Hubby's niece and nephew for Christmas.  Hubby picked out the materials and ribbon, and was a great sport on our multiple trips to the craft store :)

 

I bought a plain white top and appliqued three owls from the pajama pant fabric onto it.

 

Appliqued owl top

 

I can't remember off hand which pattern I used for the baby/toddler pajamas I made this year, but will look it up and write a review in the future.  I used this pattern for 3 of the 4 pajamas I made this year... but likely won't use it again, at least not without changes.

Owl fabric toddler pajamas

 

I liked the pattern I used for the boys pajama pants, but, of course, my dog literally ate my pattern.  Thankfully it was after my pieces were cut!  I'll look up the information and post a pattern review for it in the future too.

Penguin fabric boys pajama pants

 

Check out the rest of the Christmas pajamas I made this year!

 

 

Winter break!

Winter break is FLYING by!  I've been crafting (and organizing!) a lot, but since most of the things I was making were gifts, I had to wait until after the holidays to blog about them.   I'm still way behind on posting from last winter too... school has been keeping me busy, to say the least. 

 

I didn't bring anything crafty to school with me last term, but won't make that mistake again.  It gets pretty sad when I have a countdown going... not for the end of classes... but for how many days until I can sew (or craft) again!  (I am even considering bringing a small travel machine with me... but will likely limit myself to knitting supplies, due to luggage & time limitations)

 

 

I did a lot of sewing and cooking this year for holiday gifts :)  We used our dehydrator to made fruit rolls, dehydrated apples & bananas.  The spiced nuts we made using a new recipe I found on-line.  I have to say, I was hoping they'd turn out better (sorry, family!) next time I'll have to do a trial batch before giving them as gifts.

 

Hubby helped pick out fabrics, and I made Christmas pajamas for our nieces, nephew, and Godson.  I'll add pictures in another post :)