Now Featuring: Yo Yos!

This is my latest addition to the Etsy collection: The Yo Yo band.

It has two handmade yo yos and is felt backed for a soft fit. More in the works in fun fabrics! They can also be made into a single clip too! Tell your friends to visit my shop. Really... please.do.

Gallery Space

The office was looking bare after Erik sold his guitars. We had collected some fun prints and I wanted to give them a proper home, so I spray painted some frames I already had and up they went. 3 of the 4 works are prints and the pinup gal is a painting I did for Erik a couple Christmases ago.

The Gaslight Anthem is one of our favorite bands, so when we went to their concert last year we picked up this print (left side, top). Tyson McAdoo is a tattoo-inspired artist who also does animation and pin-up art. He created the print on the bottom left for a tattoo event that Erik and I went to last summer. On the right side my pin-up painting is on the top and the anchor print is one that I picked up from I.C.E. Atlanta in December.

Erik and I are big fans of any and all Art so we were excited to show off some of our more fun and adventurous pieces!

A Place to Rest...

My pins! I found this adorable pincushion tutorial on one of my daily reads Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone.

My rotary cutter came in handy for this little project. I must say I'm not sure how I lived without the rotary cutter! It has changed my life. But I love the button and ribbon detail of this pincushion. Once again I had to use my current favorite fabric and the sections the ribbon makes are a great way to keep my sewing needles separate from my pinning needles. I had to do a couple of adjustments to the directions because I don't have a doll maker needle, but it all worked out in the end.

The directions and patterns are available to download on Better Homes and Garden's website. Click here to get them!

Celebration

Today's post celebrates 3 things: friends, Sundays, and posts. This is my 100th post with SD! I cannot believe it! With many DIY adventures, to new sewing skills, to fun times, I'm glad that I have been able to share it all with you guys! On the note of sharing, big ups to my BF neighbor Lesley for sharing a wonderful cookbook that allowed me to make this delicious peanut butter pie to take to mom's house for the weekly Family dinner yesterday.

My favorite thing about the cookbook is that most of the recipes are for 2, which makes my life easier! I was a math genius in school, but since I live in the real world halving 3/4 C of flour doesn't always compute in my head :) I took the PB pie recipe and added a little semi-homemade touch, thank you Sandra Lee! Instead of making my own pie crust and baking it, I purchased an Oreo cookie one from the store to cut down on the prep time and to add a little chocolate into the mix. A little grated chocolate swirls are in the cards for the next time I make it!

Hope you all had a great weekend and thanks again for visiting me every once in a while!!

A Message from Doc.

Isn't the life of a dog great? Check out the other message he left us here.

Additons

{ Doc left his mark in the snow... at least it wasn't yellow :) }

Yesterday I was super excited to stay home and get some projects done. In case you're under a rock it is freezing cold everywhere including here in GA which actually gave us some snow on Thursday, which didn't melt in the 18˚ temps and turned to ice Friday morning keeping all schools closed! It really is great being a teacher! This time it allowed me to get a couple of new additions to my abode put up.

First was the wonderful gift from my Christmas wish list that my mother-in-law read:

My cutting table! I can't wait to start making more headbands, zipper bags and totes. Especially since I purchased my rotary cutter and mat. It is being stored in our guest room at the moment. I think I may turn that room into a craft room because it is the only one with the floor space right now.

Next I hung my awesome Pottery Barn purchase that arrived the other day. It is the new home of our keys and Doc's leashes. I love the little cage that stores the lesser used keys. We'll use the big hooks to stash our keys as we walk in the door. Two new pieces that make our house a little more functional for us!

Handmade Greetings: Birthday

My crazy Mom had her birthday on January 5th and we all went out for a delicious family dinner here. Anytime we get together laughter quickly ensues. We ate tons, cracked jokes, and just really enjoyed being together and celebrating our awesome mom.

I decided that no ordinary Hallmark greeting would do, so I used one of my favorite stamps to craft this birthday card for her. The stamp is just the calendar grid, and it comes with the month titles and numbers. I used Martha Stewart's line of ink pads for the black and teal colors. I wanted another accent color so I used my favorite trick of coloring my bird stamp with a plain ol' Crayola marker for the orange. Using markers are a great way to have a wider range of colors without having to buy a ton of different ink pads. By adding a cute polka-dot patterned paper and some brown and cream cardstock her 2009 birthday card was complete. I used the same paper to add a detail to the envelope as well. Cards are one of my favorite things to create. They let the person know that you 100% thought of them when making it, and it wasn't just being the first card on a shelf that you could find a coordinating envelope for.

Happy Birthday again Mom!

A Place to Hang my Keys

Way back in September I received a Pottery Barn giftcard from a friend as a birthday gift. It was super sweet of them and I was excited to go shop. But there was one problem- Pottery Barn is expensive! I am crafty for a reason- I'm cheap. I like PB style, but I also think it is way overpriced. So when I received the giftcard I knew it would be a challenge to find something I would like. I have a general rule when it comes to giftcards- do not spend more than $10 over the amount of the card. I do this because I want the card to actually buy me something, not cost me more to get something that I normally wouldn't buy.

So with the Christmas sales and clearances going on, I checked the PB website to see if I could find a suitable purchase. When I found this key cabinet I was in love:

I like how industrial it feels. We can use it to hang Doc's leash on, and all of our various keys can go inside the cage with their appropriate labels. Plus it was on clearance for $24.99!! With my giftcard being $25, I only had to fork over the shipping costs! I can't wait to get it onto the kitchen wall.

Well, do you have any new organization pieces 'round the house?

Snow Again ?...

{ You seriously want to go out there? It's freezing... }

So winter has decided to start off with a bang here in the South. It was a blistering 30 something today and there is not a warm day in sight. The weather man is saying that there is a possibility of snow by the end of the week! Please cross your fingers for me, a snow day from school would be a welcomed surprise.

Since it is so cold outside, I'm doing any and everything I can to stay warm and work on some little tasks that have gone undone for a while. I worked on cleaning up and re-organizing our bathroom drawers, caught up on laundry, and am sorting and re-organizing my sewing cabinet. Getting my home more organized is definitely on my list for 2010. I know I am already pretty organized, but since I constantly rearrange things in the house I always have something to do. My philosophy is to put things in the places where they are used so then there is no searching for them. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Do you have any home-related resolutions for 2010?

New Items!

I added a new headband and hair clip to my Etsy Shop! Go visit it here. More styles and fabrics to come, so stop by often.

White Christmas

The theme for my gifts this Christmas was all things white. I received a couple of wish list items and a surprise pair of my favorite thing in the world- owls.

My sister-in-law Ashley found these adorable owls in a vintage shop. I love their little eyes. They have a new perch in the living room next to the window.

I have been wanting a new chair for our office. We previously had a folding wooden chair that was horrible to move and very uncomfortable. My parents got us this rolling Ikea chair. I'm still up in the air as to whether or not I want to make a cushion for it. But the height adjusts and it swivels, much better than the old.

It has been awesome to have so much time off work and although there was a small sick stint in the holiday break, Erik and I have gotten to spend a lot of time together which I wouldn't trade for the world. Also Doc has been leaving us fun messages via our chalkboard...

{ He left this one for our spaghetti dinner with the Grahams.

Please forgive his grammar, he is only 3. }